Formula 1 will continue on the path of hybrid propulsion also in 2026, the year in which the second generation of power units will debut with an architecture different from the current one, news of which only official status is now awaited. Alongside the ever-growing electrical component, the traditional combustion engine will continue to be present, but will be powered by a new generation of sustainable fuels. The Federation and the leaders of the Circus have repeatedly expressed their desire to explore the field of alternative fuels as the path to take to reach the ambitious goal of zero carbon impact by 2030.
The issue of environmental sustainability is increasingly topical both in the industrial sector and in motorsport, with huge investments to develop electric propulsion technology. Despite the great potential of full-electric mobility in terms of lower environmental impact, several aspects undermine the certainty whether in the long term it can actually be the only solution to every problem. In addition to the current limits of autonomy of electric cars, an aspect on which, however, research is progressing at an incessant pace, there is still a persistent environmental impact. Although at the vehicle level the carbon emissions of an electric car are close to zero, with the exception of dust emitted by the wear of tires and brake pads, the production of electricity for battery recharging largely depends on fossil fuels. . Furthermore, even with electricity produced entirely from renewable sources, the environmental impact of a full-electric vehicle is not zero.
A research conducted in 2020 byInstitute of Mechanical Engineers estimated what an electric car emits on average 58 g / km of carbon dioxide, analyzing the entire production and life cycle of the vehicle. The estimate of emissions includes the extraction of raw materials such as lithium at the base of the current batteries, but also the eventual disposal of the batteries themselves where they are not recycled. Although the 58 g / km is far lower than the impact of a car with a traditional internal combustion engine, it is still higher than 45 g / km of a car with a combustion engine powered by entirely alternative and sustainable fuels.
In the modern context of the revolution that pervades the automobile and mobility sectors in general, the FIA demonstrates its desire to explore different avenues in parallel, starting with Formula E to continue the development of electric propulsion, alongside which are placed the GT Electric and other championships. The hydrogen fuel-cell technology will also find space in the panorama of international motorsport, which will make its debut in competitions in 2025 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a category dedicated to it. Furthermore, starting from 2022, the cars of the World Rally he was born in World Endurance they will be powered by alternative fuels. The WEC in particular will adopt the Excellium Racing 100, for a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions estimated at around 65%.
The route for Formula 1
Formula 1 will also embrace alternative fuels, while continuing to support the combustion engine with a substantial electrical part. It will start in 2022, when the new one will debut fuel E10, an acronym that identifies the composition of 10% ethanol together with 90% of traditional substances. However, with ecological fuels comes the problem of lower energy density, i.e. the chemical energy present in petrol per unit of volume that is released during combustion. In fact, with the E10 fuel for next season, a loss of power from the internal combustion engine is estimated between 5 and 10%, which can however be compensated by the development carried out by the engineers from year to year.
For the second half of the 1920s, the leaders of the category therefore aim to create a generation of alternative fuels capable of limiting the loss of energy density. Pat Symonds, technical director of Formula 1, personally explained the problem: “We currently have fuels with an energy density of 44 megajoules per kilogram. They are energetically very dense, while alcoholic fuels, such as ethanol, are much less so, which means you have to ship more fuel to have the same power. […] Motorsport focuses on power and power density in particular. We don’t want huge machines with equally large tanks, but smaller tanks with a high-quality fuel in them and with a high power density. This is why we have to synthesize this fuel and it is not the easiest thing to do ”.
Ethanol-based E10 fuel will therefore be a temporary solution, as in the long run, Formula 1 aims to synthesize its own ecological petrol, able to meet the high energy density requirements typical of motorsport. The Circus’s goal is also to develop a fuel that is Drop-in, that is, that it can be used without requiring structural changes to the current engines.
To understand the genesis of the new fuels for the future of Formula 1, it becomes crucial to become familiar with their composition and the processes involved. In this regard, in 2020 FormulaPassion had interviewed Andrea Dolfi, Head of R&D Fluid Technology Solutions at Petronas, who illustrated the matter as follows: “Speaking of the impact on carbon dioxide emissions, a broad definition of sustainable fuel is “any fuel, intended as a means of storing and transporting chemical energy, which does not increase atmospheric CO2”. Downstream of this concept there are categories of fuels that can be summarized very simply. To make a traditional fuel, composed of carbon hydrogen and in some cases oxygen, it takes a source of carbon and one of hydrogen “.
In this regard, the technical department of Formula 1 has announced that it wants to synthesize a gasoline with three different sources of carbon, hydrogen and other substances: the Carbon Capturing, the treatment of urban waste and biomass. In the latter case we are dealing with biochemical processes of fermentation of biomass that lead to the production of substances that can be used as fuel. The biomasses involved will also be algae, food waste and crops obtained from land unsuitable for food crops. In fact, until twenty or thirty years ago, first generation alternative fuels had a strong impact on the exploitation of the soil and on the food chain. “We are now focusing on biofuels of second generation “, continues Andrea Dolfi . “That is fuel still obtained from biomass, but what they do not impact on land use and the food chain. We are talking about by-products of the paper and wood industry, crop waste or more generally the agri-food sector (production of bio-methane from farms) and solid (wet) urban waste. These second generation biofuels, as mentioned, are essential because they do not compete with the food supply chain. In a world where the world population is still growing, it is necessary to pay particular attention to this aspect ”.
Biomass will therefore be one of the sources for the production of the fuels of the future of Formula 1, but not the only one. It will be accompanied by the Carbon Capturing, i.e. the capture of carbon dioxide dispersed in the atmosphere in industrial areas from which carbon is extracted to synthesize the synthetic component of gasoline in the laboratory, as illustrated again by Andrea Dolfi: “The industrial exploitation of CO2 is only advantageous if you have access to a concentrated source of the same. Wanting to exploit the CO2 present in the atmosphere, which has a concentration of almost 420 ppm (parts per million ed) to get carbon, it would take a lot of energy. When it comes to “Carbon capturing” we talk about acquire carbon dioxide from the discharges of an industrial plant such as steel mills, cement plants, thermoelectric plants, refineries “.
Zero impact
The ultimate goal of the world champion Circus is to synthesize a gasoline capable of reduce CO2 emissions from the heat engine by 65%. The cars will therefore continue to emit a substantial amount of carbon dioxide, albeit significantly lower than now. In the overall balance, however, it emerges that the neutral environmental impact can actually be achieved, as the CO2 emissions of the single-seaters would be offset by the recapture of carbon dioxide by dedicated plants through Carbon Capturing. “It is a circular process“, Pat Symonds explains. “We will not produce any CO2 that is not already in the atmosphere. We will remove carbon dioxide from the air, use it and then emit it back into the environment “.
With alternative fuels, Formula 1 therefore does not aim to reduce emissions from cars to zero, but rather to achieve an overall neutral environmental balance. However, this goal can be achieved if the hydrogen necessary for the synthesis of gasoline is also obtained in a sustainable manner, as highlighted by Andrea Dolfi: “Hydrogen is classified according to four colors according to its production process also called “reforming”. The brown hydrogen it is obtained from coal, through the production of a synthesis gas, syngas, obtained from a chemical reaction between water and coal. Then, there is gray hydrogen, where the reforming reaction itself is based on the use of methane which is one of the most sustainable fossil fuels in terms of emissions. both of these processes, however, cannot be classified as sustainable as the CO2 produced is released into the atmosphere. Then, there is blue hydrogen which is always produced from methane but with a process that requires the CO2 to be “recaptured” and therefore not released into the atmosphere. The blue hydrogen theoretically, in broad terms, therefore has zero impact on CO2 since it does not decrease it but neither does it increase it. Then there is finally green hydrogen which is mainly produced by electrolysis (i.e. splitting of water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen ed) and therefore without the release of CO2. However, this type of hydrogen can only be defined green if the electricity used in the process comes from renewable sources, ortrue products from hydroelectric, geothermal, solar or wind power plants. Sustainability, therefore, lies in the fact that we do not emit CO2 in the production of fuel or reduce it ”.
In conclusion, the Formula 1 of the future will be powered by an alternative fuel synthesized specifically to improve their energy density, a mixture of biomass products, urban waste treatment and synthetic substances, exploiting among others the technology of Carbon Capturing. In any case, the calorific value of fuels will be lower than the current one, which is why the limit on fuel flow could be loosened or even abolished injected into the combustion chamber to ensure the same power levels as the thermal engine by burning larger quantities of petrol. In the event of positive feedback, in the future the thermal engine could return to play a greater importance in relation to the hybrid part, increasingly removing the possibility of a total conversion of Formula 1 to electric propulsion.