Crude oil isn’t going to be around anymore and it is time to find alternative fuels to run our automobiles, enable transport and much more. Methanol, also known as wood alcohol, has been believed to be able to replace fossil fuels for a long time now. Methanol’s use, however, isn’t new. In the early 1900’s methanol was tested on automobiles to see if it would its power producing magic on the Internal Combustion Engines. Early race cars also used methanol to some extent.
Methanol: Will automobile industry take it?
Methanol, when converted into Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE), becomes an oxygenate
-- possessing the ability to mix with oxygen molecules and produce a clean burning fuel. However, its production has slowly simmered because it has been known to contaminate ground water reserves.
As an alternate fuel, methanol holds a lot of promise: it is very similar in its chemical structure to ethanol and has similar fuel-burning characteristics. Methanol can be produced from domestic feedstock, from coal and by running steam through Natural Gas. It also has lower inflammability and costs much lesser to produce than the fossil fuels.
Most Importantly, Methanol can be converted into hydrogen which in itself is another promising alternative fuel. China, for instance, has already led the way by already using methanol in its cars, buses and trucks and had established about 200 Methanol plants nationwide. China currently produces about 11 Million metric Tonnes (3.6 Billion Gallons) and is poised to produce a whopping 20 Million Metric tonnes (6.6 Billion Gallons) by the end of 2010.
Why Isn’t Methanol as Hyped as, Say, Ethanol or Hydrogen?
Methanol might not be hyped, but the potential sits like a statue. It might not be popular, but it will stand-by while the U.S, China and other countries will wax verbatim about ‘Methanol Economies”. Methanol is poisonous and about 10 ml of Methanol can actually kill, if it didn’t leave you blind enough. However, things can be worked out and if that’s a possibility, we then have yet another alternative fuel that shows promise and can help fill our need for fuels in the future.
Methanol is abundantly available; is more toxic but easily soluble in water and is environment friendly. Guess what? There are traces of methanol even in fruit and hence methanol (in low doses) has always been a part of human diet -- so what toxic substance are we talking about?
Methanol, with its variants like M85 and more, is surely one of those refreshing alternative fuels the will is expecting to see.