State of the Art – A Patent-centric Outlook on e-Fuels

To meet climate and emissions reduction targets, greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector need to be considerably reduced. e-Fuels, a subset of synthetic fuels, produced through Fischer-Tropsch or Methanol-to-Gasoline processes using green hydrogen and carbon dioxide, are gaining traction when it comes to decarbonizing hard to abate transportation sectors – heavy-duty, aviation and marine. In addition to market and commercial data, patents are a key source for identifying sector-specific innovation trends. This study is based on a literature review of the patent filing activity in the e-Fuels sector. Analysis of patent data suggests an increasing interest in development of e-Fuel technology, with patent filing activity picking up pace 2019 onwards. Patent data additionally provided unique insights into firms engaging in e-Fuel development, with both expected and unexpected firms leading innovation activities. However, other core firms which seem to be targeting commercial e-Fuel production appear to lack a patent footprint. e-Fuels seem to be garnering an industry interest evidenced by both patent and market data, and while they appear to be interesting candidates to decarbonize hard to abate sectors, their suitability to meet commercial applications is contingent on their cost attractiveness and the scalability of synthesis processes to meet industry requirements.