In the project “Innovation Flüssige Energie” (IFE), a plant for the highly efficient production of CO₂-neutral synthetic fuels is being developed and conceptualised. Therefore, a high-temperature co-electrolysis (Co-SOEC) is combined with an efficient CO₂ separation and a Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process. With the thermal coupling of the endothermic Co-SOEC and the exothermic FT process, a significantly higher overall efficiency can be achieved than with low-temperature electrolysis and downstream FT processes. The objective of the IFE project is to maximise the plant efficiency into the range of 55 % (compared to the state of the art of about 43 %) and a max. yield of Diesel-equivalent synthetic fuel (i.e. fuels according to EN15940).
The plant will be sized for an electrical input power of up to 1 MW, enabling the production of about 500,000 litres/year of synthetic fuel. Furthermore, the plant shall be able to operate in a wide load range to enable operation with fluctuating renewable electricity sources.
After a subsequent industrialisation phase, the developed concept is to be produced in Austria and integrated into the Austrian energy system. This should create positive economic and ecological effects in the form of a sustainable Austrian value chain. Production costs of the synthetic FT fuel in the range of 1 €/l to 1.5 €/l are targeted.
