HIF Global announced that its subsidiary HIF USA has engaged Bechtel Energy, Siemens Energy and Topsoe to conduct the front-end engineering and design (FEED) of a facility to be constructed in Matagorda County, Texas to produce carbon-neutral gasoline. When operational, the HIF Matagorda eFuels Facility will produce carbon-neutral gasoline that can be dropped-in to vehicles in use today without any modification to existing engines or the infrastructure on which they depend.

The carbon-neutral gasoline will be produced by utilizing approximately 2 MMt of CO₂ captured from the atmosphere and green H₂ from renewable power. HIF USA expects to produce approximately 200 MMgpy of carbon-neutral gasoline by 2027, with the potential to decarbonize over 400,000 vehicles. HIF USA estimates creating approximately 4,500 direct jobs during the construction phase, which is expected to begin 1Q 2024, and more than 100 permanent operating jobs.

Renato Pereira, CEO of HIF USA said, “Beginning the 12-month FEED engagement materially advances the HIF Matagorda eFuels Facility beyond preliminary engineering into this second phase of project design. Upon completion of the FEED, we expect to achieve a Class 2 cost estimate and a level of engineering sufficient to commence construction. Bechtel Energy, Siemens Energy and Topsoe are essential to the successful completion of this pioneering facility, which will provide decarbonization solutions to the transportation sector without any modifications to existing engines or delivery infrastructure.”

Bechtel Energy will conduct the engineering and design of the overall facility, which includes the integration of the Siemens Energy and Topsoe technologies and equipment. Siemens Energy will be responsible for the engineering and design of their proprietary Silyzer 300 electrolyzers required to produce approximately 300,000 tpy of green H₂. Topsoe will provide engineering and design for the methanol and methanol-to-gasoline processes, which will combine the green H₂ with 2 MMt of CO₂ captured from the atmosphere to produce approximately 1.4 MMt of methanol and then synthesize the methanol into 200 MMgpy of carbon-neutral gasoline.

“Supplying cars and ships in use today with carbon-neutral eFuels is an effective way to accelerate the decarbonization of our transportation sector and unlocks the advancement of technologies at scale for green hydrogen production and CO₂ capture,” Executive Director of HIF Global, Meg Gentle, said. “Working in partnership with Bechtel Energy, Siemens Energy, and Topsoe is critical to designing a safe, reliable, and low-cost facility that will set the new frontier in the fight against climate change.”

“Decarbonizing our everyday transportation is now well within our grasp,” said Paul Marsden, president, Bechtel Energy. “We look forward to partnering with HIF Global, Siemens Energy, and Topsoe on developing this eFuel facility that will shape our energy consciousness and build our path to net zero.”

“Siemens Energy is proud to support HIF in bringing commercial scale eFuels production to the United States,” said Rich Voorberg, President, Siemens Energy North America. “Siemens Energy and its world-leading energy technology product portfolio is enabling the energy transition and the decarbonization of the economy. Sector coupling plays a key role in these efforts, and Siemens Energy is excited about this opportunity to help develop sustainable fuels by engineering our Silyzer to generate hydrogen from clean sources of energy.”

Roeland Baan, CEO at Topsoe, said, “We are proud that HIF Global has selected our technology for this truly innovative project which will contribute to decarbonizing U.S. transportation. Our technology will be used to directly convert renewable hydrogen and CO₂ to methanol, which is further converted into plug-and-play eGasoline. We are excited to showcase our technology for eFuels and see HIF Global’s inspiring project come alive.”