The Methanol Economy: Forget about the hydrogen economy. Methanol is the key ...

Technology Review ^ | March 2, 2006 | By Kevin Bullis

[fireforeffect]

And this is somehow different from Benzene? Benzene is the primary component of gasoline.

Benzene OSHA exposure limit 1 ppm.
Methanol OSHA exposure limit 200 ppm.

Seams like an improvement to me.

[LurkingSince'98]

poisonous methanol??? what about poisonous gasoline???

what the hell do you think gasoline does to you???

what did you plan to do with the methanol drink it??

think man, this is to be put in a fuel tank!

Lurking'

[Toby06]

Liquid fuels of some sort have the highest storage densities for chemical fuels, so one version or another, they have the most potential.

How about gasoline? I'll bet we could find a decent use for it as a substitute to these alternate fools, i mean fuels.

[LurkingSince'98]

you don't need natural gas, you can use coal and wood too.

Lurking'

[Realism]

"One approach is to produce methanol by converting still-existing huge reserves of natural gas, but in entirely different, new ways. Today, methanol is made exclusively from natural gas.

Maybe I'm reading this wrong.

[FreePaul]

As I mentioned on another thread a few days ago we used a mix of methanol, nitromethane and castor oil for model engines. Never had any problems with the mixture. The methanol came in a glass bottle but we kept the mix in anything handy, mostly metal containers. Never had any problems but that was over sixty years ago.

[Vaquero]

"And this is somehow different from Benzene? Benzene is the primary component of gasoline."

While doing work as a house painter (some 30 years ago before I got a job in pharmaceuticals) my boss sent me to the hardware store for Benzene. an old codger walked me around to the benzene tank. He told me that one time a young fella was asked to check on the level of the tank so he struck a match to look inside. "...and he ain't benzene since".....was the punch line.

[IronJack]

Benzene is the primary component of gasoline.

I don't think so. Benzene is a ringed hydrocarbon. Gasoline is composed primarily of simple alkanes: hexane, heptane, octane ... You may be confused because gasoline is known as "benzin" in Germany.

[upcountryhorseman]

The basic problem with hydrogen fuel cells is that it takes
as much energy to produce the hydrogen as is utilized from the hydrogen. Therefore a hydrogen fuel cell is an merely
an energy carrier.

[LurkingSince'98]

you read it right, they don't mention that you can make it from other sources like wood and coal.

Lurking'

[mvpel]

Benzene makes up about 1-5% of gasoline formulations.

The Gasoline MSDS indicates:

"SKIN: Practically non-toxic if absorbed following acute (single) exposure. Liquid may be absorbed through the skin in toxic amounts if large areas of skin are exposed repeatedly."

vs. Methanol:

"Skin absorption can occur; symptoms may parallel inhalation exposure."

And the TWA for gasoline is 50% higher than methanol, 300ppm as opposed to 200ppm.

Sure, gasoline is dangerous, but methanol is arguably more dangerous, given its propensity for skin absorption. Or are you saying you've never spilled gasoline on your skin or clothes before?

[nuke rocketeer]

What's the energy cost of making methanol? That will determine if it can become competitive with gasoline/diesel.

[Realism]

it takes as much energy to produce the hydrogen as is utilized from the hydrogen.

That all depends on where you get the energy to produce hydrogen. All we need is a type of filter that will separate the different elements right out of the air. Shouldn't be too hard.

[nuke rocketeer]

Or using your 'Oklahoma credit card' to siphon a few gallons out of someone's tank!

[Doctor Stochastic]

Adding methanol to auto fuel would cut down on people stealing fuel by siphoning.

[dangerdoc]

"I think the methanol/ethanol solution is a dead end."

There are technological hurdles but I cringe when I read about the hydrogen economy. We could create oceans of methanol with our coal reserves or even biomass. Methanol could even be created from excess power production from new nuclear facilities.

We are looking years down the road. If we started making fuel flexible cars now, it would be a very simple change 20 years down the line when the rest of the infrastructure catches up.

I personally would like to see a propane infrastructure built. It is easily transported, stored and is energy dense. It is friendly to current materials and burns very efficiently in an internal combustion engine. It is also easily synthesized from various feed stocks.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

The cost of creating the fuel is high and it takes a lot of resources to create the fuel.

[RightWhale]

You see natural gas getting in short supply

For those who think about Peak Oil, which peak may come in the next decade, there is also a Peak Natural Gas, which peak may come in the decade following Peak Oil. There is also Peak Coal, which may come a couple decades following Peak Natural Gas. Natural gas is at present very far from getting in short supply.