The company Alur (Ancap’s subsidiary) announced this Thursday the result of the competitive process arranged in September of last year, with the objective of selecting a developer and a project for the production of synthetic fuels (e-fuels) from the capture of biogenic CO2 generated in the ethanol plant in Paysandú.
The selection fell on the project presented by the company HIF Global, who has extensive experience in ventures in the United States, Australia and Chile. The presented project is classified as a high priority in the international expansion strategy of the HIF Group, which already has important commitments for the supply of e-fuels to third parties, reported Ancap.
Investment in Paysandú
The investment in Paysandú foresees the production of 180,000 tons per year of e-gasoline (synthetic fuels) from the capture of 710,000 tons per year of CO2 from the combustion of biomass and distillation of cereal alcohol.
Alur will be one of the suppliersalong with others from the forestry industry in the area.
In addition, it is anticipated the production of 100,000 tons of green hydrogen per year. For this, an alkaline electrolyser of 1 GW of power will be installed, and the installation of 2 GW of additional renewable electricity generation in the country, from photovoltaic solar and wind sources.
The project will require an investment of close to US$ 1,985 million in CO2 capture, methanol production and synthetic gasoline completion.
Meanwhile, another US$2 billion is expected to be invested in the installation of wind farms, photovoltaic farms and transmission lines within a radius of up to 180 kilometers from the city of Paysandú.
What are green hydrogen and e-fuels?
Green hydrogen is produced by electrolysis of water from electricity from renewable sources and can be transformed into various forms of energy with multiple applications for industry or mobility. The process is clean and has no CO2 emissions. One of its great potentials is that it is storable energy that can be compressed and transported from one place to another.
E-fuels are synthetic fuels produced from green hydrogen and biogenic CO2, which can be used instead of fossil fuels.
Labour
The project expects to employ almost 1,600 full-time employees during the construction phase (around 30 months), with peaks of more than 3,200, and will employ 300 full-time people permanently for the operation. In addition, an investment of US$ 1.2 million is committed to research, development and innovation initiatives. Once the developer has been selected, we now proceed to the feasibility analysis of the project.
Ancap as one of the suppliers
“It will be an emblematic project, and it will be the first domino to fall in Uruguay, for the country to position itself in the region and in the world as one of the most interesting players in synthetic fuels. We are creating the conditions for the world to pay attention to Uruguay”, said the president of Ancap, Alejandro Stipanicic, a few days ago.
The Alur boiler in Paysandú offers a biogenic carbon production of 12%, while the emission from the grain fermentation plant reaches 98%. In that department, the company has a plant that has a capacity of 70 million liters of bioethanol, which requires 200,000 tons of grains from about 50,000 hectares. It can also produce 70 thousand tons of animal feed.
The participation of Alur or Grupo Ancap as a minority partner of the private initiative will be decided once the final business is completed with the value of the assets contributed, the logistics, and the financial structure of the project.. The oil entity offers its infrastructure for the storage and export of production by river.
Besides, The entity will make use of the option of opening conversations with the applicants that were reserved and were not awarded, to jointly analyze the possibility of taking advantage of other sources of biogenic CO2 and available infrastructures for other developments other than the completed call.
