Methanol has been considered as a fuel, mainly in combination
with gasoline. It has received less attention than ethanol, however, because
it has a number of problems of its own. Its main advantage is that it can be
easily manufactured from methane (the chief constituent of natural gas) as
well as by pyrolysis of many organic materials. A problem with pyrolysis is
that it is only economically feasible on an industrial scale, so it is not
advisable to try to produce methanol from renewable resources like wood on a
small (personal use) scale. Both methanol and Ethanol burn at lower
temperatures than gasoline, and both are less volatile, reducing the risk of
explosion or flash fire. Methanol has about the same acute toxicity as
gasoline, so similar precautions should be taken when handling it. It is much
less carcinogenic than gasoline, and less harmful to the environment if
spilled.
Methanol was discovered through pyrolysis of wood. Current technology can convert the synthesis gas generated by pyrolysis of biomass to create additional production of methanol.
Toxicity
Methanol is a toxic product; extensive exposure to it
could lead to permanent health damage, including blindness. US maximum
allowed exposure in air (40 h/week) are 1900 mg/m³ for ethanol, 900 mg/m³ for
gasoline, and 260 mg/m³ for methanol. It is also quite volatile and therefore
has a risk of fire and explosion. Besides the fire and explosion risk,
volatility means evaporative emissions. Both in the atmosphere and in the
liver, methanol is oxidized into two potent toxins: formaldehyde (used as a
preservative for dead organic matter in laboratories), and formic acid (the
poison found in ant stings). Catalytic converters would usually break down
these two toxins in a manner similar to the sulfur, nitrogen, or carbon
monoxide molecules which they normally dispose of if it were not for the fact
that catalytic converters operate below the required temperature until the
vehicle has gone 5 to 10 miles (10 to 15 km).
It is possible to overcome this environmental issue in two
ways. Firstly, there is the very expensive option of adding more catalyst to
the converter's aluminium honeycomb. But the catalysts themselves just happen
to be the metals platinum, palladium, and rhodium - all of which are very
rare and expensive to purchase. As an example, palladium costs about $200 per
ounce, the equivalent of $3,200 per pound or £4,000 (€5,500) per kilogram.
Also, platinum costs even more: $1,200 per ounce, $19,000 per pound, or
$41,000 (£22,700 or €32,000 per kilogram.) And rhodium is the most expensive
by a long way: $6,000 per ounce - that's $100,000 per pound, or $225,000
(£125,000 or €175,000) per kilo as of July 2006, 6 times as expensive as
platinum. That is why catalytic converters contain so little catalyst: the
catalysts themselves are too expensive to be used generously enough to be as
effective as they were meant to be.
Alternatively, an electric heater (for home conversion, a
glow plug from an old diesel engine) would serve to preheat the converter a
bit more rapidly than an engine by itself would by idling for 5 or 10
minutes. The catalytic converter would still be operating below the required
temperature for some time, but less than in an unmodified vehicle, thus
cutting pollution levels significantly. Note that hybrid vehicles will be easier
to modify this way because they already have battery systems that can supply
sufficient power to heat the catalyst sufficiently, whereas conventional cars
may need electrical modifications to enable this.
An additional problem of methanol is that its energy
content is only 45% that of gasoline (75% of ethanol) by volume. (gasoline =
30 megajoules/litre, ethanol = 22-23 megajoules/litre, methanol = 16
megajoules/litre.)
In practice
Nevertheless, a drive to add a significant percentage of
methanol to gasoline got very close to implementation in Brazil, following a
pilot test set up by a group of scientists involving adding blending gasoline
with methanol between 1989 and 1992. The larger-scale pilot experiment that
was to be conducted in São Paulo was vetoed at the last minute by the city's
mayor, out of concern for the health of gas station workers (who are mostly
illiterate and could not be expected to follow safety precautions). As of
2006, the idea has not resurfaced.
Since 1965, pure methanol was used in United States Auto Club competition for its series, and today used by many short track organisations, especially midget and sprint cars, Champ Car, and until 2005, IndyCars, primarily for safety reasons.
A seven-car crash on the second lap of the 1964
Indianapolis 500 resulted in USAC's decision to mandate methanol. Eddie Sachs
and Dave McDonald died in the crash when their gasoline-fueled cars exploded.
Johnny Rutherford was also involved, in a methanol-fueled car which also
leaked following the crash, and while this car burned from the impact of the
first fireball, it formed a much lesser inferno than the gasoline cars. That
testimony and pressure from the Indianapolis Star writer George Moore, led to
the 1965 alcohol fuel mandate.
In 2006, in partnership with the ethanol industry, the
Indy Racing League (IRL) used a mixture of 10% ethanol and 90% methanol as
its fuel. For the 2007 season , the IRL will use pure ethanol, E100. [1]
Methanol fuel is also used extensively in drag racing, primarily
in the Top Alcohol category.
Related topics @ Wikipedia
Alcohol fuel
List of energy topics
Liquid fuels
Methanol economy
Oil crisis
Timeline of alcohol fuel
External links
Commercial Scale Demonstration of the Liquid Phase Methanol Process, Dept. of Energy Production of methanol by Clean Coal power plants for $.50 - .60 per gallon.
DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center - Methanol
Methanol as an alternative fuel Recording of a discussion with Nobel laureate George Olah broadcast on NPR.
An Energy Revolution by Robert Zubrin Mandating Flexible
Fuel Vehicles to run on ethanol and methanol as well as gasoline will defund
oil producers who are funding terrorists. The cost per car is $100 - $800.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol_fuel
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