Synthetic fuels such as OME can significantly reduceCO2 emissions and at the same time make combustion cleaner. In the Namosyn project, engineers at the Straubing campus of the Technical University of Munich are demonstrating the production of OME as a diesel fuel alternative using a newly constructed synthesis plant.
The construction of the plant is part of the "Sustainable mobility through synthetic fuels" (Namosyn) project launched by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in 2019 and coordinated by DECHEMA Gesellschaft für Chemische Technik und Biotechnologie e.V. (Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology).
The Namosyn consortium includes 39 industrial and research partners from the entire value chain, and the project has a volume of around 24 million euros. Its aim is to research the possibilities of synthetic, sustainably produced oxygenate-based fuels for use in diesel and petrol engines. These fuels are sustainable because theCO2 emitted when driving was previously taken from other sources, so that significantly fewer greenhouse gases are released globally.
'Oxygenate-based' means that oxygen atoms are incorporated into the molecule. As a result, these fuels burn almost soot-free, so that fewer pollutant emissions can also be expected locally during use. NAMOSYN is researching synthesis routes, combustion properties and the compatibility of the fuels with engine components and existing infrastructures for these fuel types.
As an alternative to fossil diesel fuel, NAMOSYN is investigating the fuel OME (oxymethylene ether). In order to produce components for OME on a pilot scale, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jakob Burger, Head of the Chair of Chemical and Thermal Process Engineering at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), and his team have now set up a demonstration plant on the Straubing campus. He has been researching the conversion of synthetic fuels (so-called "SynFuels") such as OME for the transportation sector for some time.
