AUDI, ​“e‑gas”

To produce ​“e‑gas” (methane), car manufacturer AUDI requires electricity, water and carbon dioxide. Using ​“green power”, i.e. from renewable energy sources, hydrogen is procured by the electrolysis of water. Carbon dioxide reacts in a second step with hydrogen via chemical coupling to methane. This synthetic natural gas can be used as a fuel in a standard gas engine. In this process solely climate-neutral oxygen and water are generated as by-products. Since 2013, AUDI operates an industrial plant for the production of ~1,000 tons of ​“e‑gas” per year in Werlte, Germany. During this process ~2,800 tons of carbon dioxide, provided by a nearby waste biogas plant, are utilized, which equals to the amount of carbon dioxide bound per year by a forest consisting of 220,000 beech trees. The produced synthetic methane can be fed into the existing natural gas grid.