Fuels produced with renewable energies, such as synthetic fuels, advanced biofuels and hydrogen (reFuels) are essential steppingstones towards climate-neutral mobility. In the reFuels Rethinking Fuels project coordinated by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), participating companies and research institutions, successfully carried out fuel syntheses, extensive fleet tests and analyses in heavy-duty, passenger and rail transport.
The Ministry of Transport runs a reFuels program dealing which further projects and activities up to the regulatory framework at the federal and the EU level that are discussed in the steering committee. All projects are also included in the reFuels roadmap for Baden-Württemberg. The advanced development of plants to produce reFuels at an industrial scale is crucial. A Green Refinery of the Future is planned to be built at the site of Mineralölraffinerie Oberrhein (MiRO).
Due to EU regulatory requirements, green methanol is to be imported to ensure the profitable operation after the planned support ends. In addition, a feasibility study for an innovative industrial power-to-liquid plant to produce Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) has been launched under the leadership of Stuttgart Airport together with Schwenk Zement and SkyNRG. To make the upscaling of industrial plants a success and to operate them profitably, clear and supportive regulatory policies at the EU and federal level, new planning speeds, a streamlined funding framework, and support for the start of hydrogen electrolysis are needed soon. CO2 from point sources should be credited until 2045 as a minimum.
