Under the lights, glitz and glamour of the Japan Mobility Show, Mazda pulled the covers off the stunning Mazda Vision X-Coupe. But what lurked inside could well keep the internal combustion engine going for many decades to come
Tokyo – At the recent Japan Mobility Show, Mazda’s President and CEO, Masahiro Moro unveiled the brand’s stunning Mazda Vision X-Coupe concept. A four-door coupe crossover powered by a turbocharged twin rotor engine, paired with plug-in hybrid technology… Yes, Mazda is still forging on with their Rotary engine.
But what equally interested me was them showcasing another innovation, their Mazda Mobile Carbon Capture device. Designed to trap carbon dioxide while driving, the system also takes in atmospheric carbon dioxide. As ‘carbon’ has become one of the biggest buzzwords of this era, vehicle emissions have been relentlessly targeted. While Chinese automotive brands (over 100 of them, the last I counted) have gone nearly all-in with the full-electric playbook, a number of legacy automakers on the other hand, have been researching various alternate solutions.
Mazda’s Carbon Capture tech plays just a part in solving the puzzle. As for the rest, allow me to rewind the clock by a little. Back in 2020, then Japanese Prime Minister, Suga Yoshihide announced the plan for the nation to reach carbon neutrality by the year 2050. In response, Mazda began work on the development of biofuels.
But unlike Europe’s bet on rapeseed oil, Mazda turned to microalgae, to which they claim has a significantly higher oil storage capacity, especially when compared to corn-based ones (which are largely used in the United States and Brazil). For Mazda, growing microalgae also made sense, due to its potential to produce fuel in limited spaces.
Oil is extracted from the microalgae known as Nannochloropsis, with properties similar to diesel. It can also be hydrotreated, further refining it into petrol.
Aside from the production of oils, the microalgae is also rich in protein, amino acids, and vitamins, to which Mazda is also exploring the conversion of the residue into livestock feed, or even supplements for human consumption.
Full Circle And Carbon Negative
Pairing their biofuel with a vehicle equipped with their new Mobile Carbon Capture device, Mazda claims that it is able to achieve Carbon Negative.
But how does this add up? According to Mazda, by making biofuel from microalgae, it absorbs CO2, hence emissions are reduced by around 90-percent. Mazda says that the Mobile Carbon Capture device is able to capture another 20-percent from the exhaust gases; essentially making the entire process 10-percent Carbon Negative. To which Mazda claims that the more you drive, the less carbon there is in the atmosphere.
The carbon that gets captured, then gets sent back for the cultivation of more microalgae, or repurposed for the production of fertilisers or even plastic, which they can create car components from.
Still In The Early Days
While I look at Mazda’s new tech with rose tinted glasses, things are still in the R&D stage. I asked the engineer on-hand about the capacity of the Carbon Capture Device. He estimated that a car could travel approximately over 300km, before the need to swap out the canisters. As for fuel production, it takes two weeks to cultivate a 1,000 litre tank for just 1 litre of fuel.
While the tech and infrastructure requires further refinement and scaling, it certainly brings a ray of hope to those who live for the joy of driving.
Text: Clifford Chow
Photos: Clifford Chow & Mazda
