GasTechno® Methanol Uses

Methanol Uses - Links, Research & White Papers

The global methanol market is comprised of the following end-use segments: Formaldehyde, Acetic Acid, MTBE, DME, MMA, DMT, Alternative Fuels, and other segments that include specific application areas such as fuel cells and agriculture.

According to Chemical Market Associates, Inc. (CMAI) methanol consumption in 2008 amounted to 40.6 million metric tons. Of this amount, approximately 34% was directed to the production of formaldehyde, a primary feedstock for the production of chemical products, such as resins and polyacetals. These in turn are used in the manufacture of a large number of consumer goods such as particle board, plywood, paints, foams, rubbers and pesticides. The balance was consumed by the production of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MBTE) a gasoline additive; the production of acetic acid used to produce acetates and polyesters; as a direct fuel; as a blending component for biodiesel; and use as a de-nitrification agent in waste-water treatment. [M. Cummins, A. Bucca A., B. Murphy, B. (2010). Model specification analysis in the methanol markets. The Journal of Energy Markets: 3 (4) 87-108.]

A new report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. indicates the global methanol market is expected to reach 55.3 million metric tons by 2015. (http://www.prweb.com/releases/methanol/formaldehyde_acetic_acid/prweb8117801.htm) This expansion is due in part to the increasing use of methanol-based fuels such as DME, a diesel substitute, and rapid developments of methanol applications in the chemical, agricultural, construction and automobile industries.

A selection of news items and scholarly works on fuel and agricultural applications of methanol:

Methanol-Based Fuels

Agricultural Applications of Methanol

Tripling America’s Fuel Production-- Most alternatives to oil are pipe dreams. This one is not.
Robert Zubrin. National Review Online. July 27, 2011.
"...Fortunately, such a fuel is available. It is methanol, also known as wood alcohol. In contrast to algae oils and cellulosic ethanol, methanol is not a futuristic pipe dream touted by researchers seeking funding. Rather, it is one of the world’s top five chemical commodities, with an operating global annual production capacity of 27 billion gallons, and a current spot price, without any subsidies, of $1.28 per gallon. While methanol contains only about half the energy per gallon of gasoline, its excellent octane rating of 105 allows it to be burned more efficiently, making $1.28-per-gallon methanol equivalent to $2-per-gallon gasoline. All in all, a very competitive price."
Read the article online: (http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/272685/tripling-america-s-fuel-production-robert-zubrin?page=1#)
USDA Program Provides More Flex-Fuel Pump Options. USDA EERE. 25 May 2011.
A new rule clarifies the definition of renewable energy systems in the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) to include flexible fuel pumps, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported on April 8. USDA said that Americans would soon have more choices at the gas pump through a USDA program that will provide funding for installation of flexible fuel pumps, sometimes referred to as "blender pumps." USDA said this clarification is intended to provide fuel station owners with incentives to install flexible fuel pumps that will offer Americans more renewable energy options. The Administration has set a goal of installing 10,000 flexible fuel pumps nationwide within five years.

Presently, most gasoline sold in this country is a mix of 10% ethanol, and 8 to 8.5 million of the approximately 250 million vehicles on the road are flexible fuel vehicles. These flexible fuel vehicles can be fueled with E85 (a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline). Approximately 2,350 of the more than 167,800 fueling stations nationwide offer E85. Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the results of E15 testing on vehicles years 2001 and younger. EPA's findings confirm there are additional vehicles on the road able to use higher ethanol blends than are currently available at the local, non-E85, pump. Comments on the interim rule, which was published on April 14 in the Federal Register, must be received by June 13. Read the USDA press release and the rule in Vol 76 of the Federal Register.
Methanol Institute onboard with Open Fuel Standard Act. cnet Reviews. 6 May 2011.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-20060247-48.html
Excerpted from cnet Reviews:
...The Methanol Institute today, for example, announced that it's backing of the Open Fuel Standard Act of 2011 (H.R. 1687) in the U.S. House of Representatives. Methanol is just one of the several alternative fuels that are being researched as affordable alternatives to fossil fuel. "The Open Fuel Standard Act is all about choice," Methanol Institute Executive Director Gregory Dolan said in a statement. "By ensuring that new cars can operate on something other than gasoline, Americans can reap the benefits of multiple alternative fuels. Methanol in particular is poised to play significant role in reducing our dependence on gasoline, as the most affordable, easily deployed, sustainable fuel available that would retail at the pump today for just $3.19 per gasoline equivalent gallon." Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-20060247-48.html
Read the Open Fuel Standard Act of 2011 (H.R. 1687).
GAME CHANGER - EPA PRESS RELEASE: EPA Streamlines Regulations for Car and Truck Fuel Conversion Systems--New options encourage innovation, maintain air quality protections. US EPA. 30 March 2011.

Gas Technologies Comment: Until this decisions, consumers converting their vehicles to 85% Methanol (M85), risked EPA fines and cancellation of their vehicle warranties. New EPA regulations now allow "...any alteration...that allows the vehicle/engine to operate on a fuel or power source different from the fuel or power source for which the vehicle/engine was originally certified..."
Chinese Government expected to increase M-15 Standard in 2011.
According to Methanex Corporation's Annual Information Form released 24 March, 2011: "The Chinese government also continues to introduce industry standards that support the use of methanol as a fuel. National standards for M-100 and M-85 methanol gasoline (100% methanol and 85% methanol blends) took effect at the end of 2009. We expect the Government of China to introduce the M-15 (15% methanol blend) national standard in 2011 and provincial M-15 standards are already in place in six provinces (Shanxi, Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Guizhou). In addition, provincial standards are also in place for other methanol blends (M-10, M-25, M-30, M-45 and M-50). " (http://www.methanex.com/investor/documents/2011/AIF.pdf)
Methanol Fuel...
"In 2005, California's Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, stopped the use of methanol after 25 years and 200,000,000 miles of success, to join the expanding use of ethanol driven by producers of corn. In spite of this, he was optimistic about the future of the program, claiming "it will be back." Ethanol is currently (as of 2007) priced at 3 to 4 dollars per gallon, while methanol made from natural gas remains at 47 cents per gallon." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol_fuel)
The Flexible Fuel Answer to OPEC. Wall Street Journal. 6 April 2011. (http://www.hoover.org/news/daily-report/74126)
Biomass to Gasoline On the Cheap? "Steven D. Phillips has led a team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) with a claim from their study of making gasoline via the methanol-to-gasoline (MTG) route using syngas from a 2,000 dry metric ton per day (2,205 U.S. ton/day) biomass-fed facility for unit sale price of prices for gasoline at $1.95/gallon ($0.52/liter) and Liquid Petroleum Gas at $1.53/gallon ($0.40/liter). That's only 7c more than this writer paid just last week for LPG - delivered." New Energy and Fuel. 16 February 2011. (http://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2011/02/16/biomass-to-gasoline-on-the-cheap/)
NREL Report Estimates Gasoline Produced from Biomass Could Cost About the Same as Ethanol. Green Car Congress. 12 February 2011. (http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/02/nrel-report-estimates-gasoline-produced-from-biomass-could-cost-about-the-same-as-ethanol.html)
US Remains the Biggest Recipient of 46% Methanol Production of the GPIC: GPIC Chief. 24 X 7 News. 25 February 2011. (http://twentyfoursevennews.com/?p=1664)
Methanex Seeks Better Traction in Transport Sector: Vancouver company eager to expand the global market for methanol as an alternative to gasoline. The Vancouver Sun. 3 February 2011. (http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Methanex+seeks+better+traction+transport+sector/4215117/story.html#ixzz1I0BuNsxA)
L. Bromberga and W.K. Cheng. Methanol as an Alternative Transportation Fuel in the US: Options for Sustainable and/or Energy-secure Transportation. (Revised November 28, 2010.) Plasma Science and Fusion Center Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge MA 02139 USA. Prepared by the Sloan Automotive Laboratory, MIT, Cambridge MA 02139. (http://www.psfc.mit.edu/library1/catalog/reports/2010/10rr/10rr012/10rr012_full.pdf)
J. Eliasson. Design of an Plant for Manufacturing of Acetaldehyde. (2010) Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University. (http://www.chemeng.lth.se/exjobb/E572.pdf)
S. B. Jones, Y. Zhu. Techno-economic Analysis for the Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass to Gasoline via the Methanol-to-Gasoline (MTG) Process. (2009) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. PNNL-18481. Prepared for U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC05-76RL01830.
R.J. Pearson and J.W.G. Turner. Lotus Engineering, Norwich, Norfolk, UK; M.D. Eisaman and K.A. Littau Palo Alto Research Center, Palo Alto, CA, USA. Extending the Supply of Alcohol Fuels for Energy Security and Carbon Reduction. SAE International: 2009-01-2764. (http://www.ecolo.org/documents/documents_in_english/Methanol-ethanol-Lotus_09.pdf)
G. Dolan. China Takes Gold in Methanol Fuel. Journal of Energy Security. October 2008. (http://www.ensec.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=148:chinatakesgoldinmethanolfuel&catid=82:asia&Itemid=324)
R.G. Donnelly, J.B. Heywood, J. LoRusso, F. O'Brien, T.B. Reed and R.J. Tabczynski. Methanol as an Automotive Fuel: A Summmary of Research in the M.I.T. Energy Laboratory. (1976) Energy Laboratory Report No. MIT-EL 76-013.(http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/27837/MIT-EL-76-013-03592022.pdf?sequence=1)
A. L. Hammond. Methanol at MIT: Industry Influence Charged in Project Cancellation. (1975) Science Magazine 190:761. (Reprint with commentary at http://ourenergypolicy.org/docs/8/MethanolatMIT.pdf)
T. B. Reed and R. M. Lerner. Methanol: A Versatile Fuel for Immediate Use. Science 28. December 1973: Vol. 182 no. 4119 pp. 1299-1304. DOI: 10.1126/science.182.4119.1299 (http://www.woodgas.com/Science1.pdf)

I. Zbiec, S. Karczmarczyk, C. Podsiadko. Response of Some Cultivated Plants to Methanol as Compared to Supplemental Irrigation. (2003) Electronic Journal of Polish Agricultural Universities (EJPAU) 6(1) #01.(http://www.ejpau.media.pl/volume6/issue1/agronomy/art-01.html)
E. Gout, S. Aubert, R. Bligny, F. Rebeille, A. M. Nonomura, A. A. Benson, and R. Douce. Metabolism of Methanol in Plant Cells. Carbon-13 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Studies. (2000) American Society of Plant Physiologists. Plant Physiology 123(1): 287-296.(http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/123/1/287.full.pdf+html?sid=f1a9ddca-ac54-401f-84b0-8bce8c8441fb)
A.M. Nonomura and A. A. Benson. Agrimethanol, A Foliar Nutrient. (1993) Proceedings of the Plant Growth Regulator Society of America (PGRSA), Twentieth Annual Meeting, August 1993. PGRSA, T.W. Alexander Road, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709.
Nonomura, A. M. and A. A. Benson. The Path of Carbon in Photosynthesis: Improved crop yields with methanol. (1992, XXIV in the Nobel series) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 89: 9794-9798. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC50219/pdf/pnas01094-0438.pdf)