DeCarTrans, a consortium project coordinated by FEV, aims to develop sustainable fuels from renewable resources. End of November, the project was awarded “Innovator of the Year 2024” for this effort. An expert jury of high-ranking industry representatives recognized the project team with one of the most important awards in the German economy. In addition, DeCarTrans came out on top in an online vote against 19 competitors from industry and research for the coveted audience award.
“Innovation is deeply anchored in FEV’s DNA and the key to sustainable evolution. Our teams combine technological expertise with visionary thinking to develop solutions that meet the challenges of tomorrow,” said Dr. Johannes Scharf, Chairman of the Executive Board, FEV Europe. “We are therefore delighted to have been awarded this important prize, which not only recognizes us as a innovation driver but is also further confirmation of our holistic and technology-open approach.”
Dr. Raul Tharmakulasingam, who manages the DeCarTrans project at FEV, adds: “Our passion and innovative strength as key drivers at FEV to shape the sustainable mobility of the future are therefore being recognized in a special way.”
The objective of DeCarTrans is to develop a process to produce synthetic fuels based on climate-neutral methanol. Once scaled up accordingly, the intention is to enable production on an industrial scale at economically attractive conditions. Just three months after the start of the project, the first 15,000 liters were handed over to German Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing at the production plant in Freiberg, Saxony, in May 2023. By the end of the project in 2026, a total of 300,000 liters of synthetic raw petrol will be produced, which can be further blended into up to 500,000 liters of tailor-made fuels for various applications.
As a globally leading engineering service provider, FEV is coordinating the DeCarTrans project, underlining its commitment to developing pioneering solutions that combine ecological responsibility with technological progress. Other consortium partners are CAC ENGINEERING GmbH, Coryton Advanced Fuels Deutschland GmbH, Lother GmbH, Forschungszentrum Jülich and TU Bergakademie Freiberg.
Sustainable success in motorsport
The synthetic fuels developed in the DeCarTrans project have already proven their performance in motorsport on several occasions. At the prestigious 24-hours race at the Nürburgring in June of this year, the consortium fitted the teams of BONK Motorsport and Griesemann with the eFuel Racing98 it has developed. The two teams finished 2nd and 3rd in the AT3 class for alternative fuels. A few weeks later, female German racing driver Carrie Schreiner also finished on the podium with eFuel Racing98 at the Hockenheimring in the 20th Porsche Super Sports Cup for the Plusline Racing Team. The latest success was achieved by Turkish motorcycle star Toprak Razgatlioglu, who secured the world championship title in the Superbike class with his ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team in the final race of the season at Jerez de la Frontera for the Bavarian company.
SOURCE: FEV
