Audi E-Gas Uses Glass Engine To Test Combustability

Audi claims its line of e-fuels is carbon neutral, and the German automaker has been using an engine with a quartz window to watch the engine in real time. What they’ve found is that their e-fuels burn more consistently than traditional petrol, reducing harmful emissions while developing a potentially inexhaustible fuel to replace petrol.

The Audi e-gas process turns raw carbon into natural gas via a process called “methandization”, and this natural gas can then used the standard compressed natural gas infrastructure. It can also be turned into e-gasoline and e-diesel, though Audi seems focused on e-gas as a replacement for standard CNG. You see, Audi can produce e-gas without turning to fracking, which has been linked to everything from fiery water to earthquakes. Fracking is bad, mmkay, and it turns a lot of would-be CNG supporters into opponents.

The thick quartz window allows engineers to look inside one of the engines test cylinders, and they made some interesting discoveries. Standard fossil fuels have a wide variety of contaminants, depending on where they come from, resulting in an inconsistent and often dirty burn. E-fuels, however, have the same structure every time, allowing for a consistent burn free of harmful emissions, like olefins and aromatic hydrocarbons. It’s still natural gas, but a much cleaner gas.

Audi and parent company Volkswagen have cast a wide net when it comes to finding the fuel of the future. Audi is currently working on both an all-electric super and a Tesla-rivaling SUV, while campaigning a diesel-hybrid race car in the World Endurance Championship. All of that, in addition to this e-gas initiative. Meanwhile, the Volkswagen XL1 is a diesel-electric, high-MPG car that wants to change the entire concept of personal transportation.

If the Audi e-gas is as clean as they say, it could be a great transitional fuel, especially if the cost of petrol-based fuels continues to creep up. But in the long term, the move away from combustion engines seems all but inevitable, and Audi would do well to remember that.

Frankly, I’m more interesting in having a quartz window on my next engine. When will Audi make that happen?

Source: Audi