IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v16y2023i6p2834-d1101021.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Overview of Major Synthetic Fuels

Author

Listed:
  • Vishal Ram

    (Department of Electrical Engineering, Loyola-ICAM College of Engineering and Technology, Chennai 600034, India)

  • Surender Reddy Salkuti

    (Department of Railroad and Electrical Engineering, Woosong University, Jayang Dong, Dong-gu, Daejeon 34606, Republic of Korea)

Abstract

Artificial fuels have been researched for more than a decade now in an attempt to find alternative sources of energy. With global climatic conditions rapidly approaching the end of their safe line, an emphasis on escalating the change has been seen in recent times. Synthetic fuels are a diverse group of compounds that can be used as replacements for traditional fuels, such as gasoline and diesel. This paper provides a comprehensive review of synthetic fuels, with a focus on their classification and production processes. The article begins with an in-depth introduction, followed by virtually classifying the major synthetic fuels that are currently produced on an industrial scale. The article further discusses their feedstocks and production processes, along with detailed equations and diagrams to help readers understand the basic science behind synthetic fuels. The environmental impact of these fuels is also explored, along with their respective key players in the industry. By highlighting the benefits and drawbacks of synthetic fuels, this study also aims to facilitate an informed discussion about the future of energy and the role that synthetic fuels may play in reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.

Suggested Citation

  • Vishal Ram & Surender Reddy Salkuti, 2023. "An Overview of Major Synthetic Fuels," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-35, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:6:p:2834-:d:1101021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/6/2834/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/6/2834/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sara Maestre-Andrés & Stefan Drews & Jeroen van den Bergh, 2020. "Perceived fairness and public acceptability of carbon pricing: a review of the literature," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(9), pages 1186-1204, July.
    2. Qiucheng Li & Jacob Cherian & Malik Shahzad Shabbir & Muhammad Safdar Sial & Jing Li & Ioana Mester & Alina Badulescu, 2021. "Exploring the Relationship between Renewable Energy Sources and Economic Growth. The Case of SAARC Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-14, January.
    3. Dou, Binlin & Song, Yongchen & Wang, Chao & Chen, Haisheng & Xu, Yujie, 2014. "Hydrogen production from catalytic steam reforming of biodiesel byproduct glycerol: Issues and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 950-960.
    4. Rafael Valencia-Quintana & Mirta Milić & Daniela Jakšić & Maja Šegvić Klarić & María Guadalupe Tenorio-Arvide & Guillermo Alejandro Pérez-Flores & Stefano Bonassi & Juana Sánchez-Alarcón, 2020. "Environment Changes, Aflatoxins, and Health Issues, a Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-10, October.
    5. Bakhtyari, Ali & Bardool, Roghayeh & Rahimpour, Mohammad Reza & Iulianelli, Adolfo, 2021. "Dehydration of bio-alcohols in an enhanced membrane-assisted reactor: A rigorous sensitivity analysis and multi-objective optimization," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 519-543.
    6. Kun-Ho Chen & Yei-Chin Chao, 2019. "Characterization of Performance of Short Stroke Engines with Valve Timing for Blended Bioethanol Internal Combustion," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-13, February.
    7. Mia Gotovuša & Ivan Pucko & Marko Racar & Fabio Faraguna, 2022. "Biodiesel Produced from Propanol and Longer Chain Alcohols—Synthesis and Properties," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-21, July.
    8. Patrick Moriarty & Damon Honnery, 2020. "Feasibility of a 100% Global Renewable Energy System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-16, October.
    9. Stefano d’Ambrosio & Alessandro Mancarella & Andrea Manelli, 2022. "Utilization of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) in a Euro 6 Dual-Loop EGR Diesel Engine: Behavior as a Drop-In Fuel and Potentialities along Calibration Parameter Sweeps," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-17, September.
    10. Oleg Bazaluk & Valerii Havrysh & Vitalii Nitsenko & Tomas Baležentis & Dalia Streimikiene & Elena A. Tarkhanova, 2020. "Assessment of Green Methanol Production Potential and Related Economic and Environmental Benefits: The Case of China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-25, June.
    11. Park, Su Han & Cha, Junepyo & Kim, Hyung Jun & Lee, Chang Sik, 2012. "Effect of early injection strategy on spray atomization and emission reduction characteristics in bioethanol blended diesel fueled engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 375-387.
    12. Hossein Ali Yousefi Rizi & Donghoon Shin, 2022. "Green Hydrogen Production Technologies from Ammonia Cracking," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-49, November.
    13. S. Kumar & P. Abdul Salam & Pujan Shrestha & Emmanuel Kofi Ackom, 2013. "An Assessment of Thailand’s Biofuel Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-21, April.
    14. Yuriy Zagashvili & Aleksey Kuzmin & George Buslaev & Valentin Morenov, 2021. "Small-Scaled Production of Blue Hydrogen with Reduced Carbon Footprint," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-11, August.
    15. Rodica Niculescu & Adrian Clenci & Victor Iorga-Siman, 2019. "Review on the Use of Diesel–Biodiesel–Alcohol Blends in Compression Ignition Engines," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-41, March.
    16. Simon Pratschner & Martin Hammerschmid & Florian J. Müller & Stefan Müller & Franz Winter, 2022. "Simulation of a Pilot Scale Power-to-Liquid Plant Producing Synthetic Fuel and Wax by Combining Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis and SOEC," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-22, June.
    17. Siavash Khalili & Eetu Rantanen & Dmitrii Bogdanov & Christian Breyer, 2019. "Global Transportation Demand Development with Impacts on the Energy Demand and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in a Climate-Constrained World," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-54, October.
    18. Paolo Iodice & Massimo Cardone, 2021. "Ethanol/Gasoline Blends as Alternative Fuel in Last Generation Spark-Ignition Engines: A Review on CO and HC Engine Out Emissions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-18, July.
    19. Aristide Giuliano & Enrico Catizzone & Cesare Freda, 2021. "Process Simulation and Environmental Aspects of Dimethyl Ether Production from Digestate-Derived Syngas," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-21, January.
    20. Moioli, Emanuele & Schildhauer, Tilman, 2022. "Negative CO2 emissions from flexible biofuel synthesis: Concepts, potentials, technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    21. Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary & Naoyuki Yoshino, 2020. "Sustainable Solutions for Green Financing and Investment in Renewable Energy Projects," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    22. Talal Yusaf & Louis Fernandes & Abd Rahim Abu Talib & Yazan S. M. Altarazi & Waleed Alrefae & Kumaran Kadirgama & Devarajan Ramasamy & Aruna Jayasuriya & Gordon Brown & Rizalman Mamat & Hayder Al Dhah, 2022. "Sustainable Aviation—Hydrogen Is the Future," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, January.
    23. Eduardo Cabrera & João M. Melo de Sousa, 2022. "Use of Sustainable Fuels in Aviation—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-23, March.
    24. Sai Manoj Rayapureddy & Jonas Matijošius & Alfredas Rimkus & Jacek Caban & Tomasz Słowik, 2022. "Comparative Study of Combustion, Performance and Emission Characteristics of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil–Biobutanol Fuel Blends and Diesel Fuel on a CI Engine," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-16, June.
    25. Kumar, Atul & Samadder, S.R., 2020. "Performance evaluation of anaerobic digestion technology for energy recovery from organic fraction of municipal solid waste: A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    26. Alma Delia Baez-Gonzalez & James R. Kiniry & Manyowa N. Meki & Jimmy Williams & Marcelino Alvarez-Cilva & Jose L. Ramos-Gonzalez & Agustin Magallanes-Estala & Gonzalo Zapata-Buenfil, 2017. "Crop Parameters for Modeling Sugarcane under Rainfed Conditions in Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-19, July.
    27. Elena Khan & Kadir Ozaltin & Damiano Spagnuolo & Andres Bernal-Ballen & Maxim V. Piskunov & Antonio Di Martino, 2023. "Biodiesel from Rapeseed and Sunflower Oil: Effect of the Transesterification Conditions and Oxidation Stability," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-13, January.
    28. Alfredas Rimkus & Justas Žaglinskis & Saulius Stravinskas & Paulius Rapalis & Jonas Matijošius & Ákos Bereczky, 2019. "Research on the Combustion, Energy and Emission Parameters of Various Concentration Blends of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil Biofuel and Diesel Fuel in a Compression-Ignition Engine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-18, August.
    29. Bassano, Claudia & Deiana, Paolo & Vilardi, Giorgio & Verdone, Nicola, 2020. "Modeling and economic evaluation of carbon capture and storage technologies integrated into synthetic natural gas and power-to-gas plants," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    30. A. T. D. Perera & Vahid M. Nik & Deliang Chen & Jean-Louis Scartezzini & Tianzhen Hong, 2020. "Quantifying the impacts of climate change and extreme climate events on energy systems," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 5(2), pages 150-159, February.
    31. Andrew K. Jorgenson & Shirley Fiske & Klaus Hubacek & Jia Li & Tom McGovern & Torben Rick & Juliet B. Schor & William Solecki & Richard York & Ariela Zycherman, 2019. "Social science perspectives on drivers of and responses to global climate change," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(1), January.
    32. Drünert, Sebastian & Neuling, Ulf & Zitscher, Tjerk & Kaltschmitt, Martin, 2020. "Power-to-Liquid fuels for aviation – Processes, resources and supply potential under German conditions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    33. Baskar, G. & Aiswarya, R., 2016. "Trends in catalytic production of biodiesel from various feedstocks," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 496-504.
    34. Andreas Meurer & Jürgen Kern, 2021. "Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis as the Key for Decentralized Sustainable Kerosene Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-21, March.
    35. Lynnette Dray & Andreas W. Schäfer & Carla Grobler & Christoph Falter & Florian Allroggen & Marc E. J. Stettler & Steven R. H. Barrett, 2022. "Cost and emissions pathways towards net-zero climate impacts in aviation," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 12(10), pages 956-962, October.
    36. Muhammad Aziz & Agung Tri Wijayanta & Asep Bayu Dani Nandiyanto, 2020. "Ammonia as Effective Hydrogen Storage: A Review on Production, Storage and Utilization," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-25, June.
    37. Paweł Fabiś & Bartosz Flekiewicz, 2021. "Influence of LPG and DME Composition on Spark Ignition Engine Performance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-18, September.
    38. Joanna Toborek-Mazur & Karol Partacz & Marcin Surówka, 2022. "Energy Security as a Premise for Mergers and Acquisitions on the Example of the Multi-Energy Concern PKN Orlen in the Face of the Challenges of the 2020s," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-28, July.
    39. Elkhan Richard Sadik-Zada, 2021. "Political Economy of Green Hydrogen Rollout: A Global Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-11, December.
    40. Adrián Bautista-Herrera & Francisco Ortiz-Arango & José Álvarez-García, 2021. "Profitability Using Second-Generation Bioethanol in Gasoline Produced in Mexico," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-16, April.
    41. Goutam Konapala & Ashok K. Mishra & Yoshihide Wada & Michael E. Mann, 2020. "Climate change will affect global water availability through compounding changes in seasonal precipitation and evaporation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.
    42. Obed Majeed Ali & Omar Rafae Alomar & Omar Mohammed Ali & Naseer T. Alwan & Salam J. Yaqoob & Anand Nayyar & Sameh Askar & Mohamed Abouhawwash, 2021. "Operating of Gasoline Engine Using Naphtha and Octane Boosters from Waste as Fuel Additives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-11, November.
    43. Hassan, I.A. & Ramadan, Haitham S. & Saleh, Mohamed A. & Hissel, Daniel, 2021. "Hydrogen storage technologies for stationary and mobile applications: Review, analysis and perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    44. Chen, Wei-Hsin & Chen, Chia-Yang, 2020. "Water gas shift reaction for hydrogen production and carbon dioxide capture: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sonia Dell’Aversano & Carlo Villante & Katia Gallucci & Giuseppina Vanga & Andrea Di Giuliano, 2024. "E-Fuels: A Comprehensive Review of the Most Promising Technological Alternatives towards an Energy Transition," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-43, August.
    2. Dovilė Gimžauskaitė & Andrius Tamošiūnas & Justas Eimontas & Mindaugas Aikas & Rolandas Uscila & Vilma Snapkauskienė, 2024. "Bituminous Soil Remediation in the Thermal Plasma Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-17, June.
    3. Michal Borecki & Mateusz Geca & Li Zan & Przemysław Prus & Michael L. Korwin-Pawlowski, 2024. "Multiparametric Methods for Rapid Classification of Diesel Fuel Quality Used in Automotive Engine Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-42, August.
    4. Kwonwoo Jang & Jeonghyeon Yang & Beomsoo Kim & Jaesung Kwon, 2024. "Effects of Decanol Blended Diesel Fuel on Engine Efficiency and Pollutant Emissions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-17, December.
    5. J. Lemuel Martin & S. Viswanathan, 2023. "Feasibility of Green Hydrogen-Based Synthetic Fuel as a Carbon Utilization Option: An Economic Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-20, September.
    6. Caroline Willich, 2024. "Hydrogen as an Energy Carrier—An Overview over Technology, Status, and Challenges in Germany," J, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-25, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Domagoj Talapko & Jasminka Talapko & Ivan Erić & Ivana Škrlec, 2023. "Biological Hydrogen Production from Biowaste Using Dark Fermentation, Storage and Transportation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-16, April.
    2. Khairul Eahsun Fahim & Liyanage C. De Silva & Fayaz Hussain & Sk. A. Shezan & Hayati Yassin, 2023. "An Evaluation of ASEAN Renewable Energy Path to Carbon Neutrality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-27, April.
    3. Tobias Mueller & Steven Gronau, 2023. "Fostering Macroeconomic Research on Hydrogen-Powered Aviation: A Systematic Literature Review on General Equilibrium Models," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-33, February.
    4. Jakub Čedík & Martin Pexa & Michal Holúbek & Zdeněk Aleš & Radek Pražan & Peter Kuchar, 2020. "Effect of Diesel Fuel-Coconut Oil-Butanol Blends on Operational Parameters of Diesel Engine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-16, July.
    5. Talal Yusaf & K. Kadirgama & Steve Hall & Louis Fernandes, 2022. "The Future of Sustainable Aviation Fuels, Challenges and Solutions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-4, November.
    6. Hren, Robert & Vujanović, Annamaria & Van Fan, Yee & Klemeš, Jiří Jaromír & Krajnc, Damjan & Čuček, Lidija, 2023. "Hydrogen production, storage and transport for renewable energy and chemicals: An environmental footprint assessment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    7. Nadaleti, Willian Cézar & Cardozo, Emanuélle & Bittencourt Machado, Jones & Maximilla Pereira, Peterson & Costa dos Santos, Maele & Gomes de Souza, Eduarda & Haertel, Paula & Kunde Correa, Erico & Vie, 2023. "Hydrogen and electricity potential generation from rice husks and persiculture biomass in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    8. Alessandro Mancarella & Omar Marello, 2022. "Effect of Coolant Temperature on Performance and Emissions of a Compression Ignition Engine Running on Conventional Diesel and Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-27, December.
    9. Hoang, Anh Tuan & Pandey, Ashok & Martinez De Osés, Francisco Javier & Chen, Wei-Hsin & Said, Zafar & Ng, Kim Hoong & Ağbulut, Ümit & Tarełko, Wiesław & Ölçer, Aykut I. & Nguyen, Xuan Phuong, 2023. "Technological solutions for boosting hydrogen role in decarbonization strategies and net-zero goals of world shipping: Challenges and perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    10. Bogdanov, Dmitrii & Ram, Manish & Khalili, Siavash & Aghahosseini, Arman & Fasihi, Mahdi & Breyer, Christian, 2024. "Effects of direct and indirect electrification on transport energy demand during the energy transition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    11. Stefan Cristian Galusnyak & Letitia Petrescu & Dora Andreea Chisalita & Calin-Cristian Cormos & Marco Ugolini, 2023. "From Secondary Biomass to Bio-Methanol through CONVERGE Technology: An Environmental Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-18, March.
    12. Luqman Razzaq & Muhammad Farooq & M. A. Mujtaba & Farooq Sher & Muhammad Farhan & Muhammad Tahir Hassan & Manzoore Elahi M. Soudagar & A. E. Atabani & M. A. Kalam & Muhammad Imran, 2020. "Modeling Viscosity and Density of Ethanol-Diesel-Biodiesel Ternary Blends for Sustainable Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-20, June.
    13. Vittorio Bonasio & Silvia Ravelli, 2022. "Performance Analysis of an Ammonia-Fueled Micro Gas Turbine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-18, May.
    14. Atsonios, Konstantinos & Li, Jun & Inglezakis, Vassilis J., 2023. "Process analysis and comparative assessment of advanced thermochemical pathways for e-kerosene production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(PA).
    15. Boyce, Scott & He, Fangliang, 2022. "Political governance, socioeconomics, and weather influence provincial GHG emissions in Canada," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    16. Lv, Zedong & Yu, Miao & Li, Songnan & Zhang, Jiawei & Zhao, Jingxiang & Cai, Qinghai, 2024. "A solvation strategy for fabricating acid-base sites on metals/ZSM-5 towards dehydration of high-water-content methanol to dimethyl ether," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    17. Anna Misztal & Magdalena Kowalska & Anita Fajczak-Kowalska, 2022. "The Impact of Economic Factors on the Sustainable Development of Energy Enterprises: The Case of Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia and Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-19, September.
    18. Y.H. Teoh & K.H. Yu & H.G. How & H.-T. Nguyen, 2019. "Experimental Investigation of Performance, Emission and Combustion Characteristics of a Common-Rail Diesel Engine Fuelled with Bioethanol as a Fuel Additive in Coconut Oil Biodiesel Blends," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-17, May.
    19. Calabrese, M. & Russo, D. & di Benedetto, A. & Marotta, R. & Andreozzi, R., 2023. "Formate/bicarbonate interconversion for safe hydrogen storage: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    20. Miklesh Yadav & Nandita Mishra & Shruti Ashok, 2023. "Dynamic connectedness of green bond with financial markets of European countries under OECD economies," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 609-631, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:6:p:2834-:d:1101021. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.