P2X-Europe, the joint venture between H&R and Mabanaft, has launched SynZero™, its new brand for synthesis-based specialty chemical products and e-fuels with sustainability standards that the company claims exceed current legal and regulatory requirements. 

P2X-Europe GmbH & Co. KG is an independent power-to-liquid (PtL) project development joint-venture, backed by two Hamburg-based German companies; the Mabanaft Group, a leading independent and integrated energy company, and the H&R Group, which develops and manufactures specialty chemical and pharmaceutical products. P2X-Europe develops, builds, and invests in vertically integrated end-to-end power-to-liquid technology solutions to enable the market introduction of synthetic net-zero chemicals and fuels. Based in Hamburg, Germany, the company has set the ambition to become a global leader in renewable hydrogen and green synthetic hydrocarbons with a focus on sustainable aviation fuels. The company is building a strong and diverse portfolio of large-scale Power-to-X projects across industries and geographies.  

With the power-to-liquid demonstration plant in Hamburg, around 200 metric tons of SynZero™ e-fuels per year for mobility, and around 150 metric tons of SynZero™ waxes for applications in the cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and food industries will be produced, starting in 2022.

In July, P2X-Europe announced its plans to scale-up the power-to-liquid business with its first project in Portugal in a joint venture with the Navigator Company. The JV opens the potential for producing  80,000 tonnes per year of renewable SynZero™ power-to-liquid products and eSAF.

“Mabanaft plays an active role in shaping the energy transition and we offer our customers innovative mobility solutions to reduce their CO2 emissions,” says Volker Ebeling, senior vice president of New Energy, Chemicals & Gas at Mabanaft. “With the launch of SynZero™, we show our customers that we are ready and able to support them on their path to a carbon-neutral future.”

While SynZero™ products reduce some undesirable aspects of fossil fuel production and use, including greenhouse gas (GHG) pollutant emissions, they are chemically identical and functionally equivalent to petroleum fuels. Thus, SynZero™ products can replace traditional hydrocarbons made from fossil materials without any inconvenience for the consumer. SynZero™ e-fuels can be used without limitations like conventional fuels at filling stations. Existing infrastructures and vehicle fleets require neither equipment retrofits nor technical adjustments, and the refuelling process remains the same.

As SynZero™ e-fuels are created with the help of green electricity, water, and biogenic CO2, they maintain a sustainable carbon equilibrium. While fossil fuel combustion is a one-way process which transfers carbon from “sealed” geological reserves into the atmosphere, biogenic CO2 has a carbon neutral balance since it does not contribute more carbon to the atmosphere than that which has been sequestered before by trees and plants. Combustion simply returns the carbon, that was absorbed as the plants grew, to the atmosphere.

“H&R aims to continue supplying its customers with proven chemical-pharmaceutical specialties in the future, while at the same time converting its portfolio to climate-friendly products. The use of synthetic waxes as raw material is a crucial pillar of our strategy in this regard,” says Detlev Woesten, chief sustainability officer at H&R and co-CEO of P2X-Europe. “Our additional advantages are the vertically integrated end-to-end technology solutions, and our parent companies’ market access in the mobility and chemical sectors.”

 “With SynZero™ products, P2X-Europe aspires to maximize the climate friendliness of synthetic hydrocarbons to be produced from green hydrogen and biogenic CO2. The SynZero™ brand allows for a differentiation of carbon sources, end products and sustainability attributes. It is the company’s response to increasing consumer demand for sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), cleaner motor fuels, and non-fossil chemical raw materials. With SynZero™, P2X-Europe is offering not only a premium brand for synthetic fuels but a credible defossilisation strategy and a net-zero carbon perspective for its customers,” says Dr. Christoph Weber, co-CEO of P2X-Europe.