奧迪發明環保柴油,原料就是二氧化碳和水

Audi just invented fuel made from CO2 and water

奧迪發明環保柴油，原料就是二氧化碳和水

An Audi research facility in Dresden, Germany, has managed to create the first batches of diesel fuel with a net-zero carbon footprint - made from carbon dioxide (CO2), water and renewable energy sources such as wind or solar power.

奧迪設在德國德累斯頓的研發部門已成功研製出首批零碳排放的柴油機燃料，完全由二氧化碳、水以及風能、太陽能等可再生能源製成。

Germany's government has welcomed the new technology, created in partnership with a greentech company called Sunfire. Johanna Wanka, Germany's Federal Minister of Education and Research, even test drove the fuel and called it, "a crucial contribution to climate protection and the efficient use of resources," according to an Audi press release.

這項新技術由該公司和綠色科技企業Sunfire共同開發，德國政府表示歡迎。奧迪發佈新聞公告稱，德國聯邦教育和研究部長約翰娜·萬卡還試駕了使用該燃料的汽車，稱之爲"對氣候保護的重要貢獻，以及對資源的高效利用"。

Manufacturing involves first breaking down steam into hydrogen and oxygen through high-temperature electrolysis. The hydrogen then reacts with CO2 to create a liquid called "blue crude." This is then refined to make the e-diesel.

生產新型柴油的第一步是通過高溫電解把水分解爲氫氣和氧氣。隨後，氫氣和二氧化碳發生反應，生成名爲"藍色原油"的液體，經過提煉，便可得到環保柴油。

A visual infographic released by Audi explains the steps in detail.

奧迪用可視化信息圖詳細解釋了具體步驟。

The next stage for the project will be industrial scale production because Sunfire only has capacity to produce 3,000 liters (792.5 gal.) of e-diesel in coming months.

這個項目下一階段要攻克的將是工業化量產，因爲未來數月Sunfire的環保柴油產能只有3000升。

"If we get the first sales order, we will be ready to commercialize our technology," said Sunfire CTO Christian von Olshausen in a company press release.

在新聞稿中，Sunfire首席技術官克里斯蒂安·範·奧爾斯豪森表示："只要接到訂單，我們就可以把這項技術商業化。"

A spokesman for Audi said the project is still "purely a research project" and that commercialization is still "several years away", but the company has already brought to market similar synthetic fuel in the form of compressed natural gas that is used in its Audi A3 g-tron cars.

奧迪發言人稱，該項目仍然"只是研究項目"，商業化還"需要幾年時間"。不過，奧迪已將類似的合成燃料推向市場，即奧迪A3 g-tron使用的壓縮天然氣。

The timing of the announcement is ironic, coming only days after the resignation of Ferdinand Pi?ch as chairman of Audi's parent group Volkswagen AG . Pi?ch had fallen out with chief executive Martin Winterkorn, reportedly over issues including a lack of technical innovation at Audi, VW's main luxury brand and a key driver of profits (the Audi spokesman dismissed the reports as "pure speculation").

這則消息發佈的時間略有諷刺意味，因爲就在此前幾天，奧迪母公司大衆汽車董事長費迪南德·皮耶希宣佈辭職。有報道稱，皮耶希和大衆首席執行官馬丁·文德恩在某些問題上存在分歧，其中就包括奧迪技術創新不足的問題（奧迪發言人對這種說法矢口否認，稱該報道"純屬臆斷"）。目前奧迪是大衆旗下主要的豪華汽車品牌，也是推動利潤增長的關鍵。