WRG Europe has Successfully Completed its Promotional Car Tour of Europe for the ToSynFuel Project
From 15 to 28 of September, WRG Europe undertook a tour of Europe to promote the ToSynFuel project and its technologies. In planning for many months, the ToSynFuel car tour was a major publicity campaign to showcase the advanced biofuels created at the project demonstration site in Hohenburg, Germany. An unmodified Passat supplied by Volkswagen and fuelled with ToSynFuel diesel was driven around key locations in Europe to highlight the important innovations of the project. These include:
- A diesel and petrol equivalent derived from a range of waste biomass (specifically from sewage sludge for this project).
- The only known biofuel that can be used in an internal combustion car without engine modification or loss of performance.
- Effectively a carbon neutral fuel that can support greener transport alongside electrification.
- A biofuel that is also relevant for marine and aviation applications.
Why Use Biofuels at all?
We recognise that some will ask why biofuels are relevant given that electric vehicles are expected to be the future of green transport. Addressing this misconception was a key objective of the tour. Specifically, advanced biofuels are important in the overall mix of solutions for greener transport because:
- Advanced (second generation) biofuels are made from waste biomass only and do not negatively impact the environment, so can be considered a green and sustainable solution.
- Electric vehicles (EVs) still only represent about 2% of the total vehicle fleet in Europe. It will take many decades before EVs can get to a critical mass where they can be the main solution for green transport.
- As a result of this time lag, interim sustainable solutions are required to support the 500 million legacy vehicles that exist on Europe's roads.
- In some cases, particularly for very large vehicles and where distance between population centres is large, electrification may never be a viable solution.
- For remote or less developed regions of the world where the infrastructure required to support EVs is not practical or where the cost is prohibitive, electrification may not be relevant and other sustainable solutions are required.
We recognise that some will ask why biofuels are relevant given that electric vehicles are expected to be the future of green transport. Addressing this misconception was a key objective of the tour.
Key Stopping Locations
Demonstration Site, Hohenburg, Germany
The tour started at the demonstration site in Hohenburg, Germany. This was to film the plant in its fully operational state and to fuel the Passat with ToSynFuel diesel from the plant to start the tour.
Autodrom Most, Czech Repulic
The car drove from the demonstration site to Most in the Czech Republic. Here we met with rally legend, Walter Röhrl, who has been a big supporter of the project since it began. He was at Autodrom Most for a Porsche driver training day, but kindly fuelled the car with more ToSynFuel diesel for the next leg of the journey. The theme of this stop was to show that the car's performance is unaffected by the biofue. It truly is a drop in fuel!
Bayernoil refinery, Ingolstadt
The next stop for the car was at Bayernoil Refinery in Ingolstat near Munich. The theme of this stop related to commercial scale up. Bayernoil is interested in developing the technology to a much larger scale that could see ToSynFuel products become a commercial reality within 5 years.
Bavarian Ministry, Munich
The car also stopped at the Bavarian Ministry in Munich to raise awareness of the technology with the Minister for Energy. Political support for the project and its technologies is very important, particularly given the geo-political landscape around greener transport (e.g. electrification) is quite complex. The project coordinator, Robert Daschner of Fraunhofer, met with the minister and talked him through the technology and its benefits. The meeting was filmed by a regional news channel to further the dissemination of the project.
EU Sustainable Energy Week, Brussels
The ToSynFuel project achieved a showcase slot at the 2022 EU Sustainable Energy Week in Brussels, including an exhibition of the car outside of the venue. Dr Chris Tuck of WRG Europe and Dr Robert Daschner of Fraunhofer UMSICHT gave an overview of the project to a youth audience as well as discussing the future of energy. They then took part in a 20 minutes Questions and Answer session regarding the project and its technologies.
Car Tour and Project Completion Event, Hohenburg, Germany
Finally, after two weeks of driving around Europe, the car returned back to the demonstration site in Hohenburg to complete the tour. An event was held for invited guests and the project team where they could visit the plant and see the products created by the technology.
We are very pleased with how the car tour went and hope it went a long way to raising the awareness of the project that it deserves. We will continue to support the ToSynFuel team after the project has ended, including looking for new funding opportunities for commercialisation.
If you would like us to support your project with major PR events such as this, then please contact us.
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