HIF Global eyes significant capex savings on $4-B Brazil eFuels plant
HIF Global expects significantly lower costs for its green-hydrogen plant in Brazil and hopes to secure financing for the first of four planned modules in the middle of next year.
The e-fuels maker had put a $4 billion price tag on the plant in Port of Acu, in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state, but expects to reduce capital expenditure by installing the four planned modules to meet demand - rather than all at once - and optimizing installation in the process, Victor Turpaud said in an interview.
"We have managed to significantly reduce capital expenditure," Turpaud said. "Today we are already below $1 billion (per module) and we continue to optimize to be well below $1 billion."
Each module is expected to produce 220,000 metric tons of methanol a year by using electrolyzers to split hydrogen from water molecules and combining the gas with carbon captured from local industrial operations.
Methanol can be synthesized into so-called e-fuels, which supporters say offer carbon-neutral alternatives to existing fossil fuels like gasoline.
The site at Port of Acu has an environmental license for producing methanol, and a license for producing e-kerosene - also known as e-sustainable aviation fuel (eSAF) - is currently in the works, Turpaud said.
While eSAF remains expensive to produce, costs are rapidly falling and Brazil has the potential to be a large producer and consumer of the fuel, he added.
“If you want to decarbonize (air travel), for now at least, electricity is not an option," Turpaud said. "So the only real alternative for decarbonizing the aviation industry, which is very large, is through SAF."
Uncertainty over rules and regulations for the decarbonization of transport sectors, including shipping, is slowing progress down globally, Turpaud added.
"It's more difficult for an offtaker to be willing to enter into a long-term contract to buy fuel for decarbonization if they are not clear about what the requirements are from the other side," he said.
For now, HIF Global is working to close supply agreements with electricity companies and other businesses that could supply the Port of Acu operation with carbon dioxide.
"This year, our focus is on closing each of these contracts, so we can start a financing series by the middle of next year," Turpaud said.
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