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Outside of the production of low-carbon fuel alternatives, heavy transportation really does not have viable options that do not require total retrofitting of vehicle engines or building entirely new vessels, says Robert Schuetzle, CEO at Sacramento, California-based electrofuels (e-fuels) maker Infinium. E-fuels, so-called drop-in fuels, can be used in the existing transportation infrastructure today, including planes, ships and long-haul trucks, without modifications to engines or distribution infrastructure. A flood of new players in this market is expected, increasing production capacity and competition with developers targeting different end markets, including shipping. Infinium e-fuels are produced via a process that includes converting waste CO2 and green hydrogen made with renewable electricity into a synthesised gas. That gas is then converted into liquid fuels using a proprietary catalyst technology and the company recently announced it had manufactured a ton of this CO2 conversion catalyst at its facility in California. Infinium's journey began more than ten years ago when its team started developing low-carbon fuel alternatives under a company called Greyrock. In 2020, Greyrock formed Infinium as a separate unit focused on the creation of electrofuels. While the Infinium brand is newer to the market, its team has been working together for many years and has built relationships along the way with global leaders like Amazon, Denbury, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and ENGIE. The company has a number of projects in various states of production globally. Its facility in Texas has been contracted to provide fuel to retailer Amazon in order to support its decarbonisation efforts in its middle-mile fleet, while around a dozen other projects are in various phases of development across the US, Europe, Japan and Australia. For Schuetzle, cost and quantity are the biggest factors for all potential e-fuels customers, including shipping, but key to the value of these fuels is the ability to immediately decarbonise supply chains by a significant amount without costly changes to distribution infrastructure or engines. "Cost down over time to become competitive with fossil-based fuels is integral to Infinium’s long-term business plan and we have done extensive analysis on the factors that will drive this," Schuetzle says, adding that today's Infinium e-fuels pricing are comparable with other low-carbon alternatives and offer significantly reduced carbon intensity. In many areas of the world, regulatory incentives are offered to help offset the premium price for consumers. In terms of quantities, we do expect demand to outpace supply for the coming decade or more, he notes. Studies show shipping is mostly targeting e-methanol based on renewable hydrogen and biogenic CO2, with ammonia most likely to take over. However, Schuetzle expects that because the cost of retrofitting or commissioning new maritime fleets is significant and issues related to bunkering, tanks, and fuel supply systems remain unresolved, demand for e-fuels will be a major part of the decarbonisation solution for shipping. "We all know we don’t have time to wait for one single solution, and each solution will take time to scale and face issues of cost and quantity in its early days. We need all the technological innovation we can get to start making meaningful progress toward decarbonising shipping and other transportation industries," he says. A key benefit to e-fuels use in maritime is their ability for owners to utilise existing fuel infrastructure and distribution pathways without modification, which reduces switching costs. "Shipowners that may not have the ability at hand to overhaul their fleets will appreciate the drop-in nature of e-fuels." Schuetzle is very encouraged by the interest that’s been shown in e-fuels and believes Infinium will be a prominent world leader within the decade. Initially, the company is targeting a number of offtake partners in the maritime industry and would welcome anyone in the sector interested in offtake discussions. What sets Infinium apart from other electrofuel producers, Schuetzle claims, is that the company has autonomous control of the production process from start to finish. "Having control of both core technology and project development is unique in the e-fuels industry and allows the company to quickly react and adapt to the changing market regulations and customer preferences. Our technology solution is a simpler and less costly way to produce e-fuels from CO2, renewable power, and water than other approaches," he says.

The case for e-fuels today

Splash Extra sits down with the head of California-based Infinium.

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