Energy resilience: Australia’s alternative fuel opportunities

Sharp fluctuations in the global oil and gas industry underscore the value of a resilient and diverse energy system. Against this backdrop, low carbon liquid fuels offer practical pathways for hard-to-abate, hydrocarbon dependent sectors like aviation, shipping and heavy industry.

Speaking ahead of this month’s London event, Renewable Fuels Summit, Dr Daniel Roberts, who leads CSIRO’s Energy Technologies Research Program, says the motivations behind low-carbon liquid fuels – or LCLF – are an enduring catalyst for change.

“When we talk about sustainable aviation fuels or low carbon liquid fuels, there are really two drivers,” he says. “One is emissions reduction. The other is fuel security. These have motivated alternative fuels research and energy independence ambitions for a very long time.”

Beyond electrification: tackling the hardest emissions

Electric vehicles tend to dominate public discussion about alternatives to hydrocarbon fuels and the related emissions and energy security aspects. “They have an important role to play in their use cases, and we’re seeing that uptake,” Dr Roberts says. “EVs are definitely a good news story.”

But when CSIRO looks at the emissions profile of heavy industry and transport, the biggest challenges lie elsewhere. “It’s the aviation fuel, it’s the international marine shipping fuel, it’s the diesel used at remote mine sites and farms,” he says. “These are big impact areas that move, grow and sustain our economy and where electrification is unlikely to be able to do the heavy lifting, so we’re looking at ways of supporting the transition to lower carbon versions.”

In many cases there are renewable pathways to hydrocarbon fuels, in some cases – especially in shipping – non-carbon fuels such as ammonia also have an important role to play.

Two pathways to low-carbon liquid fuels

At the heart of this work are two broad pathways for producing low-carbon liquid fuels in Australia.

The first is Power-to-Liquid (PtL), or e-fuels: synthetic fuels made by combining hydrogen with captured carbon dioxide. “Hydrogen plus CO₂, plus the magic of chemical engineering, equals jet fuel, methanol or diesel,” explained Dr Roberts who represents CSIRO on the Australian Jet Zero Council. “There are also established pathways here where hydrogen plus nitrogen from the air makes ammonia, a zero-carbon potential with particular relevance to the shipping industry.”

The second pathway, which Dr Roberts believes can deliver impact sooner, is biogenic fuels: converting biomass and waste into liquid fuels. “That’s going to be ready much sooner and get us traction in the space quickly,” he says. “And we’re going to need all of these pathways – and more – if we’re going to meet the volumes of demand.”

Australia’s opportunity, Dr Roberts suggests, lies in its diverse feedstocks. Forestry residues, agricultural waste, weeds, woody biomass and even urban waste streams could all play a role, while also potentially addressing land management challenges such as dryland salinity. “It’s about recognising the value in our waste streams,” he says. “We have the opportunity domestically to build on existing technologies and make something really useful out of waste.”

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Source & image credit: CSIRO