Efuel to be made at 'commercial scale' in Texas after permit for world's largest facility granted

HIF Global have secured a permit to build the world’s largest efuel plant in southern Texas with construction expected to start in 2024.

The facility in Matagorda County will produce 200 million gallons of efuel each year, enough to fuel 400,000 cars, once it is up and running.

The firm behind the project, HIF (which stands for highly innovative fuels), are the world’s leading efuel company and the same people who are working with Porsche to open a facility in their native Chile.

“In December our efuel facility in southern Chile began production of eGasoline, showing the world that carbon-neutral efuels go straight into existing car engines to decarbonise the infrastructure we use every day,” said Meg Gentle, Executive Director of the Board of HIF Global.

“In Texas, we are taking efuels to the next level of commercial scale, and we are now permitted to construct the largest efuels facility in the world.”

The alternative to fossil fuel will be made by combining 2 million tons of recycled carbon dioxide (CO2) with 300,000 tons of hydrogen separated from water using renewable electricity.

Efuel is carbon neutral because the CO2 produced when it is burned in engines was sucked out of the environment in the first place. Critics point out that engines running efuel do still produce other harmful toxins, though, and do not help to create clean air zones in cities.

CEO of HIF USA, Renato Pereira added: “Efuels are decarbonising the transportation sector now and will reach commercial scale at the HIF Matagorda eFuels Facility. We thank the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for maintaining a thorough and efficient regulatory review process.

“Receipt of this initial authorisation enables HIF to begin construction in Texas as soon as the engineering, commercial contracting, and financing are complete, which we expect in 2024.”