Audi 2015 Annual Report Download - page 94

Pick-up point in Leipzig. Marc Delcourt
has arranged to collect me there. Today,
the microbiologist and head of the French
start-up company Global Bioenergies S.A.
will be showing me where he would like
to produce Audi “e-benzin,” the fuel of the
future for e cient gasoline engines. We
drive  kilometers west to Leuna. This is
where the fi rst demonstration plant for
Audi “e-benzin” is to be set up in the near
future. “The capacity here will make it pos-
sible to produce  metric tons of Audi
‘e-benzin’ a year,” Delcourt says. Impres-
sive, but why isn’t he going straight in with
a plant that can make ten or fi fty times
as much renewable gasoline ? He shows me
a test tube containing a slightly cloudy
liquid. “Our little helpers aren’t predictable
machines, so we need to scale up our
pro cess for larger volumes step by step,”
Delcourt explains. By little helpers, he
means bacteria. I can’t see them because
they are only a few micrometers in size.
They are nevertheless the key to Audi
“e-benzin.” When fed with sugar they be-
come miniature isobutene gas-producing
factories. The plan for the future is to re-
place sugar with CO as the carbon source.
Reacting isobutene on a special catalyst
and adding hydrogen produces liquid
isooctane. And Audi “e-benzin” is ready.
Marc Delcourt // Global Bioenergies S.A.
PHOTOS : Getty Images, AUDI AG