trailer world issue Two 2010

Issue Two 2010 15 Future III There‘s plenty of life left in the combustion engine. But it does not necessarily have to run on fossil fuel. Water as the fuel of the future? Stones as far as the eye can see: only one hour‘s car drive from the Jordanian capital of Amman and there‘s nothing but desolate desert. But the desert also supplies us with fuel and lubricants – the basis for mobility. A few places reveal how complex the search has meanwhile become. There are oil shale deposits half a kilometre under the desert sand. This fossil treasure can’t just be pumped out, instead it has to be liquefied first in a complicated technical process be- fore producing crude oil in a few years. Basi- cally, it is and will remain difficult to exploit fossil sources. Even though new oil deposits are constantly being discovered, oil resourc- es are finite. And there is increasing public debate in democratic countries at least about whether it is at all acceptable in ethical terms to continue with the unlimited exploitation of resources in ecologically sensitive areas such as the rain forests or arctic oceans, in view of the risks involved. No matter how difficult it may be to search for alternatives, one thing would appear to be certain: future mobility will be shaped by a mix of different fuels. The automotive industry is working on two concepts. On the one hand, the well-known and proven principle of combustion engines, currently accounting for around 60% of oil consump- tion, will continue. Another possibility is to develop new drive systems. Here it is above all the fuel cell that is given the best chance of becoming accepted in niche areas. To- gether with the shrinking availability of fossilised raw materials, the discussion also focuses on the ecological footprint. As far as the fuel tank is concerned, the search for an alternative can be divided into three areas: • development of second-generation liquid or gaseous bio fuels • use of hydrogen as a fuel • bridge technologies such as natural gas engines or the use of conventional bio- alcohol, which sees widespread use in Brazil, for example. Iveco is the only manufacturer to offer a heavy natural gas truck – quite an attractive solution for distribution traffic. Second generation biofuels Green fuels such as dimethyl ether (DME) or bioethanol are made from plants or organic waste. In the first generation, oleaginous plants such as rapeseed were compressed into plant oil which was then used to produce biodiesel. This is a compli- cated, low-yield procedure that only uses the oleaginous seeds while at the same time taking up extensive acreage, which leads to corresponding discussions about the impact this has on food production. Meanwhile, both multinational oil com- panies and smaller firms are working on high-purity synthetic BTL fuels. The “bio- mass to liquid” method uses the whole plant which is initially gassified in special reac- tors. A second stage then converts the biogas into liquid fuel. A similar approach is being pursued by engineers at Neste, the Finnish oil compa- ny. They are experimenting with algae and bacteria in an attempt to produce the Photo:GinaSanders-Fotolia.com,Graphics:Hoffmann

trailer world issue Two 2010

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