Methanol basics
Methanol is the simplest alcohol, a clear flammable liquid that occurs naturally in the environment through biological processes. It can also be synthetically produced through any carbon-based source, including natural gas, coal, municipal wastes, landfill gas, wood wastes—and carbon dioxide. In most countries methanol is primarily produced by steam reforming natural gas to create a synthesis gas (combination of hydrogen and carbon monoxide), which is fed into a reactor vessel in the presence of a nickel catalyst to produce water vapor and methanol. A distillation step is used to remove water from the finished methanol. The use of natural gas with this method produces methanol with a carbon intensity equal to that of gasoline. The use of gasified coal with this method produces methanol with a much higher carbon intensity than gasoline. Biomass gasification, however, gives rise to methanol with a very low carbon intensity, one comparable to Blue Fuel Energy’s production approach based on renewable electricity and waste carbon dioxide.
Methanol is a basic building block for hundreds of chemical products, ranging from plastics and paints to construction materials and windshield washer fluid. It is the principal ingredient in various organic chemicals such as formaldehyde, acetic acid, chloromethane, and MTBE. Amongst its myriad applications, methanol is a superb hydrogen carrier fuel for fuel cell technology applications and a clean-burning power generation and transportation fuel.
For transportation purposes, methanol can be blended into gasoline at very low blend rates (2-5%, for example), low/moderate blend rates (15%—“M15”), or at high blend rates (85%—“M85”). Methanol can also be used neat (“M100”). As a Methanol Institute presentation notes, in the 1980s and 1990s (in the US) nearly 20,000 methanol “flex fuel vehicles” or FFVs (capable of running on M85, gasoline, or any combination of the two fuels) were built by the world’s leading automakers. In addition, hundreds of methanol fuel buses were placed in service. Operated countless miles with few fuel-related problems, these vehicles conclusively proved that methanol is an excellent, clean-burning transportation fuel. Despite this, in the 1990s, demand for methanol waned for numerous reasons, including: a significant drop in the price of gasoline; aggressive lobbying by the politically powerful ethanol industry; and failure by the methanol industry to adequately support expansion of methanol infrastructure.
Today, China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of methanol and leader in blending it with gasoline. China blends over a billion gallons of methanol into gasoline per year, with scores of taxi and bus fleets running on M85 and M100, and retail pumps selling lower level blends (M15 or less). Domestically produced methanol (largely from coal) now comprises 5-7% of China’s transportation fuel pool as the country seeks to wean itself from imported petroleum-based transportation fuels that pollute its skies and compromise energy security. China is demonstrating to the world once again how methanol can near-seamlessly be adopted as a transportation fuel.
In Europe, as in North America, methanol is not currently being used as a gasoline blendstock, but rather as a feedstock for the production of biodiesel, a much-valued transportation fuel.
For transportation purposes, methanol can be blended into gasoline at very low blend rates (2-5%, for example), low/moderate blend rates (15%—“M15”), or at high blend rates (85%—“M85”). Methanol can also be used neat (“M100”). As a Methanol Institute presentation notes, in the 1980s and 1990s (in the US) nearly 20,000 methanol “flex fuel vehicles” or FFVs (capable of running on M85, gasoline, or any combination of the two fuels) were built by the world’s leading automakers. In addition, hundreds of methanol fuel buses were placed in service. Operated countless miles with few fuel-related problems, these vehicles conclusively proved that methanol is an excellent, clean-burning transportation fuel. Despite this, in the 1990s, demand for methanol waned for numerous reasons, including: a significant drop in the price of gasoline; aggressive lobbying by the politically powerful ethanol industry; and failure by the methanol industry to adequately support expansion of methanol infrastructure.
Today, China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of methanol and leader in blending it with gasoline. China blends over a billion gallons of methanol into gasoline per year, with scores of taxi and bus fleets running on M85 and M100, and retail pumps selling lower level blends (M15 or less). Domestically produced methanol (largely from coal) now comprises 5-7% of China’s transportation fuel pool as the country seeks to wean itself from imported petroleum-based transportation fuels that pollute its skies and compromise energy security. China is demonstrating to the world once again how methanol can near-seamlessly be adopted as a transportation fuel.
In Europe, as in North America, methanol is not currently being used as a gasoline blendstock, but rather as a feedstock for the production of biodiesel, a much-valued transportation fuel.
