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METHODS article

Front. Energy Res.

Sec. Process and Energy Systems Engineering

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenrg.2025.1297299

This article is part of the Research TopicSpotlight on Europe: Process and Energy Systems EngineeringView all 9 articles

Contribution to a standardized economic and ecological assessment methodology for e-fuel production in Germany

Provisionally accepted
Nathanael Simon HeimannNathanael Simon Heimann1,2*Moritz RaabMoritz Raab1,2Niklas WulffNiklas Wulff1,3Sofia HaasSofia Haas4Simon PichlmaierSimon Pichlmaier4Ralph-Uwe DietrichRalph-Uwe Dietrich1,2
  • 1German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, Germany
  • 2Institute for Technical Thermodynamics, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
  • 3Institute of Networked Energy Systems, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany
  • 4Forschungsstelle für Energiewirtschaft e.V, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

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Techno-economic and ecological analysis of synthetic fuel production requires a consistent set of assumptions in order to achieve comparability. The proposed methodology was developed to assess any e-fuel production globally each local condition. It contains standards concerning the methodology and cost calculations of individual process stages, electricity, H2, heat as well as CO2 supply. With the presented approach, net production costs, production efficiencies and the global warming potential can be compared. In this work, basic assumptions for an e-fuel-production in Germany are shared and illustrated by a simplified example.AEL Alkaline electrolysis 24 AEM Anion exchange membrane 25 BEniVer Accompanying Research on the energy 26 transition in transport 27 (Ger. Begleitforschung 28 Energiewende im Verkehr) 29 BMWK German federal ministry for economic 30 affairs and climate action 31 (Ger. Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft

Keywords: comparability, Energy-transition, Tea, LCA, PtX-process, Standardizing

Received: 19 Sep 2023; Accepted: 29 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Heimann, Raab, Wulff, Haas, Pichlmaier and Dietrich. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Nathanael Simon Heimann, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, Germany

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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