DEUTZ will be attending the 14th International Conference on Renewable Mobility, ‘Fuels of the Future 2017’, in Berlin January 23-24 as one of the event’s sponsors, underlining its commitment to the development of carbon-neutral drive systems.
More than 500 participants from 30 countries are expected to attend this year’s conference, which, as a leading event for the German and European biofuels industry, offers a broad forum for dialogue between international representatives from politics, business and research. Alongside biofuels, which are already being used to power combustion engines in a carbon-neutral way, the increasing diversification of drive technologies and the research and production of various fuels from renewable energy sources will be among the discussion topics to which DEUTZ will be contributing at the conference.
Dr. Markus Schwaderlapp, head of research and development at DEUTZ AG, explains: “In future, it will be possible to achieve carbon neutrality in diesel engines by using synthetic fuels. Researchers are currently looking at ways of producing synthetic diesel fuel that can be mixed with fossil diesel in any ratio or used alone, using green electricity and a special method of electrolysis (power-to-liquid). We believe these so-called ‘e-fuels’ mean there is still great potential for diesel, even in the longer term.”
DEUTZ has already approved such fuels for use with specific engines in a number of initial projects. One example is the carbon-neutral seminar ship which is currently sailing in German waters under a solar-powered electro-hybrid drive system, aided on cloudy days by a DEUTZ BF6 M1013 M engine. This has been approved under EN 15940 for use with paraffin diesel fuels (XtL) and can thus be operated with a range of carbon-neutral fuels. Hydrated vegetable oils (HVO) obtained from recycled vegetable oil and waste fats are currently being used, but liquid fuels converted from gas (GtL) and biomass (BtL) are also an option; in the near future, it will also be possible to use e-fuels (PtL).
“As an engine manufacturer, it is important that we play an active role in the development of fuels and draw the right conclusions for our own product development. Going forward, this will enable us to successfully position the benefits of the combustion engine – robust, mobile, flexible and suitable for use by itself – in the drive-system mix of renewable mobility,” says Dr. Schwaderlapp.
