Methanol fuel

Methanol fuel

This article is about methanol used as a fuel. For other alcohols used as fuels, see Alcohol fuel.

Methanol is an alternative fuel for internal combustion and other engines, either in combination with gasoline or directly ("neat"). It is used in racing cars and in China. In the U.S., methanol fuel has received less attention than ethanol fuel as an alternative to petroleum-based fuels, because in the 2000s particularly, the support of corn-based ethanol offered certain political advantages. In general, ethanol is less toxic and has higher energy density, although methanol is less expensive to produce sustainably and is a less expensive way to reduce the carbon footprint. However, for optimizing engine performance, fuel availability, toxicity and political advantage, a blend of ethanol, methanol and petroleum is likely to be preferable to using any of these individual substances alone. Methanol may be made from fossil or renewable resources, in particular natural gas and biomass respectively.

History and production

Historically, methanol was first produced by destructive distillation (pyrolysis) of wood, resulting in its common English name of wood alcohol.

At present, methanol is usually produced using methane (the chief constituent of natural gas) as a raw material. In China, methanol is made for fuel from coal.

"Biomethanol" may be produced by gasification of organic materials to synthesis gas followed by conventional methanol synthesis. This route can offer methanol production from biomass at efficiencies up to 75%. Widespread production by this route has a proposed potential (see Hagen, SABD & Olah references below) to offer methanol fuel at a low cost and with benefits to the environment. These production methods, however, are not suitable for small-scale production.

Major fuel use

During the OPEC 1973 oil crisis, Reed and Lerner (1973) proposed methanol from coal as a proven fuel with well-established manufacturing technology and sufficient resources to replace gasoline. Hagen (1976) reviewed prospects for synthesizing methanol from renewable resources and its use as a fuel. Then in 1986, the Swedish Motor Fuel Technology Co. (SBAD) extensively reviewed the use of alcohols and alcohol blends as motor fuels. It reviewed the potential for methanol production from natural gas, very heavy oils, bituminous shales, coals, peat and biomass. In 2005, 2006 Nobel prize winner George A. Olah and colleagues advocated an entire methanol economy based on energy storage in synthetically produced methanol. The Methanol Institute, the methanol trade industry organization, posts reports and presentations on methanol. Director Gregory Dolan presented the 2008 global methanol fuel industry in China.
On January 26, 2011, the European Union's Directorate-General for Competition approved the Swedish Energy Agency's award of 500 million Swedish kronor (approx. €56M as at January 2011) toward the construction of a 3 billion Swedish kronor (approx. €335M) industrial scale experimental development biofuels plant for production of Biomethanol and BioDME at the Domsjö Fabriker biorefinery complex in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, using Chemrec's black liquor gasification technology