Electrofuels as emerging new green alternative fuel: A review of recent literature

• Electrofuels are produced by combining recycled CO 2 and hydrogen derived from water electrolysis. • Electrofuels can be gaseous (methane), liquid (DME), or solid (iron). • Electrofuels can reduce GHG, however that depends on many factors such as energy policy adopted. • The biggest factor in the total cost of electrofuels is the cost of electricity for H 2 production. • The cost of electrofuels is currently high and not competitive with other types of sustainable fuels. The transportation sector is a major contributor in global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). Vital measures should be taken in order to reduce the GHG, among these measures is using electrofuels. Electrofuels are produced by combining recycled CO 2 gas and hydrogen derived from water electrolysis, where the energy required to produce these fuels comes from zero-carbon electric energy. Electrofuels also include recycled solid metal fuels, which are produced through electrochemical reduction reactions of their oxides. This article presents a review on the recent advances in the field of electrofuels, which includes the chemistry of electrofuels and the reactions to produce it plus, it compares between the different studies discussing the Electrofuels life cycle assessment, and their economical and technical evaluation. Moreover, this review covers the combustion behavior of electrofuels, and how it is affecting its performance and usage. This review concluded with few suggestions to improve the production cost of electrofuels, and their integration within the current energy systems.