Methanol fuel
Encyclopedia
Methanol is an alternative fuel for internal combustion and other engines, either in combination with gasoline
or directly ("neat"). It is used in racing cars and in China. In the U.S., methanol
fuel has received less attention than ethanol fuel
as an alternative to petroleum
-based fuels, because in the 2000s particularly, the support of corn-based ethanol offered certain political advantages. In general, ethanol is less toxic and has higher energy density, although methanol is less expensive to produce sustainably and is a less expensive way to reduce the carbon footprint
. However, for optimizing engine performance, fuel availability, toxicity and political advantage, a blend of ethanol, methanol and petroleum is likely to be preferable to using any of these individual substances alone. Methanol may be made from fossil or renewable resources, in particular natural gas
and biomass
respectively.
) of wood, resulting in its common English name of wood alcohol.
At present, methanol is usually produced using methane
(the chief constituent of natural gas
) as a raw material. In China, methanol is made for fuel from coal.
"Biomethanol" may be produced by gasification
of organic materials to synthesis gas followed by conventional methanol synthesis. This route can offer methanol production from biomass at efficiencies up to 75%. Widespread production by this route has a proposed potential (see Hagen, SABD & Olah references below) to offer methanol fuel at a low cost and with benefits to the environment. These production methods, however, are not suitable for small-scale production.
, Reed and Lerner (1973) proposed methanol from coal as a proven fuel with well-established manufacturing technology and sufficient resources to replace gasoline. Hagen (1976) reviewed prospects for synthesizing methanol from renewable resources and its use as a fuel. Then in 1986, the Swedish Motor Fuel Technology Co. (SBAD) extensively reviewed the use of alcohols and alcohol blends as motor fuels. It reviewed the potential for methanol production from natural gas, very heavy oils, bituminous shales, coals, peat and biomass.
In 2005, 2006 Nobel prize
winner George A. Olah and colleagues advocated an entire methanol economy
based on energy storage in synthetically produced methanol.
The Methanol Institute, the methanol trade industry organization, posts reports and presentations on methanol. Director Gregory Dolan presented the 2008 global methanol fuel industry in China.
On January 26, 2011, the European Union
's Directorate-General for Competition
approved the Swedish Energy Agency's
award of 500 million Swedish kronor
(approx. €56M as at January 2011) toward the construction of a 3 billion Swedish kronor (approx. €335M) industrial scale experimental development biofuel
s plant for production of Biomethanol and BioDME at the Domsjö Fabriker
biorefinery complex in Örnsköldsvik
, Sweden, using Chemrec's
black liquor
gasification
technology.
(114) and high heat of vaporization. However, its low energy content of 19.7 MJ/kg and stoichiometric air-to-fuel ratio of 6.42:1 mean that fuel consumption (on volume or mass bases) will be higher than hydrocarbon fuels. The extra water produced also makes the charge rather wet (similar to hydrogen/oxygen combustion engines) and with the formation of acidic products during combustion, the wearing of valves, valve seats and cylinder might be higher than with hydrocarbon burning. Certain additives may be added to the fuel in order to neutralize these acids.
Methanol, just like ethanol, contains soluble and insoluble contaminants. These soluble contaminants, halide ions such as chloride ions, have a large effect on the corrosivity of alcohol fuels. Halide ions increase corrosion in two ways; they chemically attack passivating oxide films on several metals causing pitting corrosion, and they increase the conductivity of the fuel. Increased electrical conductivity promotes electric, galvanic, and ordinary corrosion in the fuel system. Soluble contaminants, such as aluminum hydroxide, itself a product of corrosion by halide ions, clog the fuel system over time.
Methanol is hygroscopic, meaning it will absorb water vapor directly from the atmosphere.http://www.methanex.com/products/faqs.html Because absorbed water dilutes the fuel value of the methanol (although it suppresses engine knock), and may cause phase separation of methanol-gasoline blends, containers of methanol fuels must be kept tightly sealed.
competition, which at the time included the Indianapolis 500
.
A seven-car crash on the second lap of the 1964 Indianapolis 500
resulted in USAC's decision to encourage, and later mandate, the use of methanol. Eddie Sachs
and Dave MacDonald
died in the crash when their gasoline
-fueled cars exploded. The gasoline-triggered fire created a dangerous cloud of thick black smoke that completely blocked the view of the track for oncoming cars. Johnny Rutherford
, one of the other drivers involved, drove a methanol-fueled car, which also leaked following the crash. While this car burned from the impact of the first fireball, it formed a much smaller inferno than the gasoline cars, and one that burned invisibly. That testimony, and pressure from Indianapolis Star writer George Moore, led to the switch to alcohol fuel in 1965.
Methanol was used by the CART
circuit during its entire campaign (1979–2007). It is also used by many-short track organizations, especially midget, sprint cars and speedway bikes. Pure methanol was used by the IRL from 1996-2006.
In 2006, in partnership with the ethanol
industry, the IRL used a mixture of 10% ethanol and 90% methanol as its fuel. Starting in 2007, the IRL switched to "pure" ethanol
, E100.
Methanol fuel is also used extensively in drag racing
, primarily in the Top Alcohol
category, while between 10% and 20% methanol may be used in Top Fuel
classes in addition to Nitromethane
.
Formula One
racing continues to use gasoline
as its fuel, but in prewar grand prix racing methanol was often used in the fuel.
Methanol is also used in Monster Truck
racing.
Fuel for model engine
The earliest model engine
s for free-flight model aircraft flown before the end of World War II used a 3:1 mix of white gas
and motor oil for the two-stroke spark ignition engines used for the hobby at that time. By 1948, the new glow plug
-ignition model engines began to take over the market, requiring the use of methanol fuel to react in a catalytic
reaction with the coiled platinum
filament in a glow plug for the engine to run. The glow-ignition variety of model engine, because it no longer required an onboard battery
, ignition coil
, ignition points
and capacitor that a spark ignition model engine required, saved valuable weight and allowed model aircraft to have better flight performance. In their current two- and four-stroke forms, methanol-fueled glow engines are the usual choice for radio controlled aircraft for recreational use, for engine sizes that can range from 0.8 cm3 (0.049 cu.in.) to as large as 25 to 32 cm3 (1.5-2.0 cu.in) displacement.
US maximum allowed exposure in air (40 h/week) is 1900 mg/m³ for ethanol, 900 mg/m³ for gasoline, and 1260 mg/m³ for methanol. However, it is much less volatile than gasoline, and therefore has lower evaporative emissions, producing a lower exposure risk for an equivalent spill. While methanol offers somewhat different toxicity exposure pathways, the effective toxicity is no worse than those of benzene or gasoline, and methanol poisoning is far easier to treat successfully. One substantial concern is that methanol poisoning generally must be treated while it is still asymptomatic
for full recovery.
Inhalation risk is mitigated by a characteristic pungent odor. At concentrations greater than 2,000 ppm (0.2%) it is generally quite noticeable, however lower concentrations may remain undetected while still being potentially toxic over longer exposures, and may still present a fire/explosion hazard. Again, this is similar to gasoline and ethanol; standard safety protocols exist for methanol and are very similar to those for gasoline and ethanol.
Use of methanol fuel reduces the exhaust emissions of certain hydrocarbon-related toxins such as benzene and 1,3 butadiene, and dramatically reduces long term groundwater pollution caused by fuel spills. Unlike benzene-family fuels, methanol will rapidly and non-toxically biodegrade with no long-term harm to the environment as long as it is sufficiently diluted.
Since methanol vapor is heavier than air, it will linger close to the ground or in a pit unless there is good ventilation, and if the concentration of methanol is above 6.7% in air it can be lit by a spark and will explode above 54 F / 12 C. Once ablaze, an undiluted methanol fire gives off very little visible light, making it potentially very hard to see the fire or even estimate its size in bright daylight, although in the vast majority of cases, existing pollutants or flammables in the fire (such as tires or asphalt) will color and enhance the visibility of the fire. Ethanol, natural gas, hydrogen, and other existing fuels offer similar fire-safety challenges, and standard safety and firefighting protocols exist for all such fuels.
Post-accident environmental damage mitigation is facilitated by the fact that low-concentration methanol is biodegradable, of low toxicity, and non-persistent in the environment. Post-fire cleanup often merely requires large additional amounts of water to dilute the spilled methanol followed by vacuuming or absorption recovery of the fluid. Any methanol that unavoidably escapes into the environment will have little long-term impact, and with sufficient dilution will rapidly biodegrade with little to no environmental damage due to toxicity. A methanol spill that combines with an existing gasoline spill can cause the mixed methanol/gasoline spill to persist about 30% to 35% longer than the gasoline alone would have done.
In 1982 the big three were each given $5,000,000 for design and contracts for 5,000 vehicles to be bought by the State. That was the beginning of the low-compression flexible-fuel vehicle
s that we can still buy today.
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.
Presently there are over 60 operating gas stations in California supplying methanol in their pumps.
Rep. Eliot Engel [D-NY17] has introduced "An Open Fuel Standard" Act in Congress: "To require automobile manufacturers to ensure that not less than 80 percent of the automobiles manufactured or sold in the United States by each such manufacturer to operate on fuel mixtures containing 85 percent ethanol, 85 percent methanol, or biodiesel."
, following a pilot test set up by a group of scientists involving 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. , the idea has not resurfaced.
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
or directly ("neat"). It is used in racing cars and in China. In the U.S., methanol
Methanol
Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits, is a chemical with the formula CH3OH . It is the simplest alcohol, and is a light, volatile, colorless, flammable liquid with a distinctive odor very similar to, but slightly sweeter than, ethanol...
fuel has received less attention than ethanol fuel
Ethanol fuel
Ethanol fuel is ethanol , the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. It is most often used as a motor fuel, mainly as a biofuel additive for gasoline. World ethanol production for transport fuel tripled between 2000 and 2007 from 17 billion to more than 52 billion litres...
as an alternative to petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
-based fuels, because in the 2000s particularly, the support of corn-based ethanol offered certain political advantages. In general, ethanol is less toxic and has higher energy density, although methanol is less expensive to produce sustainably and is a less expensive way to reduce the carbon footprint
Carbon footprint
A carbon footprint has historically been defined as "the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person.". However, calculating a carbon footprint which conforms to this definition is often impracticable due to the large amount of data required, which is...
. However, for optimizing engine performance, fuel availability, toxicity and political advantage, a blend of ethanol, methanol and petroleum is likely to be preferable to using any of these individual substances alone. Methanol may be made from fossil or renewable resources, in particular natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
and biomass
Biomass
Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel....
respectively.
History and production
Historically, methanol was first produced by destructive distillation (pyrolysisPyrolysis
Pyrolysis is a thermochemical decomposition of organic material at elevated temperatures without the participation of oxygen. It involves the simultaneous change of chemical composition and physical phase, and is irreversible...
) of wood, resulting in its common English name of wood alcohol.
At present, methanol is usually produced using methane
Methane
Methane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, the principal component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth. The relative abundance of methane makes it an attractive fuel...
(the chief constituent of natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
) as a raw material. In China, methanol is made for fuel from coal.
"Biomethanol" may be produced by gasification
Gasification
Gasification is a process that converts organic or fossil based carbonaceous materials into carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane. This is achieved by reacting the material at high temperatures , without combustion, with a controlled amount of oxygen and/or steam...
of organic materials to synthesis gas followed by conventional methanol synthesis. This route can offer methanol production from biomass at efficiencies up to 75%. Widespread production by this route has a proposed potential (see Hagen, SABD & Olah references below) to offer methanol fuel at a low cost and with benefits to the environment. These production methods, however, are not suitable for small-scale production.
Major fuel use
During the OPEC 1973 oil crisis1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
, Reed and Lerner (1973) proposed methanol from coal as a proven fuel with well-established manufacturing technology and sufficient resources to replace gasoline. Hagen (1976) reviewed prospects for synthesizing methanol from renewable resources and its use as a fuel. Then in 1986, the Swedish Motor Fuel Technology Co. (SBAD) extensively reviewed the use of alcohols and alcohol blends as motor fuels. It reviewed the potential for methanol production from natural gas, very heavy oils, bituminous shales, coals, peat and biomass.
In 2005, 2006 Nobel prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winner George A. Olah and colleagues advocated an entire methanol economy
Methanol economy
The methanol economy is a suggested future economy in which methanol replaces fossil fuels as a means of energy storage, ground transportation fuel, and raw material for synthetic hydrocarbons and their products. It offers an alternative to the proposed hydrogen economy or ethanol economy.In the...
based on energy storage in synthetically produced methanol.
The Methanol Institute, the methanol trade industry organization, posts reports and presentations on methanol. Director Gregory Dolan presented the 2008 global methanol fuel industry in China.
On January 26, 2011, the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
's Directorate-General for Competition
Directorate-General for Competition (European Commission)
The Directorate-General for Competition is a Directorate-General of the European Commission, located in Brussels, Belgium. The DG Competition is responsible for establishing and implementing a coherent competition policy for the European Union. The DG Competition has a dual role in antitrust...
approved the Swedish Energy Agency's
Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications (Sweden)
The Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications is a ministry within the government of Sweden. Its areas of responsibility include business development and competition, electronic communications, energy, forestry, information technology , postal communications and cashier service, primary...
award of 500 million Swedish kronor
Swedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
(approx. €56M as at January 2011) toward the construction of a 3 billion Swedish kronor (approx. €335M) industrial scale experimental development biofuel
Biofuel
Biofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases...
s plant for production of Biomethanol and BioDME at the Domsjö Fabriker
Domsjö Fabriker
Domsjö Fabriker is a Swedish refinery located in Örnsköldsvik, specializing in refining forest raw materials into specialty cellulose, lignin and bio-ethanol. In 2000 it was spun off from the forest company Mo och Domsjö AB , of which it had been a part since the early 20th century, and sold to a...
biorefinery complex in Örnsköldsvik
Örnsköldsvik
Örnsköldsvik is a locality and the seat of Örnsköldsvik Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 28,617 inhabitants in 2005.Its natural harbour and archipelago is in the Gulf of Bothnia and the northern boundaries of the High Coast area. It is well known as an exporter of paper products...
, Sweden, using Chemrec's
Chemrec
Chemrec is a Stockholm, Sweden corporation that develops technology for entrained flow gasification of black liquor and certain types brown liquor for production of biofuels from the resulting syngas....
black liquor
Black liquor
Black liquor is the spent cooking liquor from the kraft process when digesting pulpwood into paper pulp removing lignin, hemicelluloses and other extractives from the wood to free the cellulose fibers....
gasification
Gasification
Gasification is a process that converts organic or fossil based carbonaceous materials into carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane. This is achieved by reacting the material at high temperatures , without combustion, with a controlled amount of oxygen and/or steam...
technology.
Internal combustion engine fuel
Both methanol and ethanol burn at lower temperatures than gasoline, and both are less volatile, making engine starting in cold weather more difficult. Using methanol as a fuel in spark-ignition engines can offer an increased thermal efficiency and increased power output (as compared to gasoline) due to its high octane ratingOctane rating
Octane rating or octane number is a standard measure of the anti-knock properties of a motor or aviation fuel. The higher the octane number, the more compression the fuel can withstand before detonating...
(114) and high heat of vaporization. However, its low energy content of 19.7 MJ/kg and stoichiometric air-to-fuel ratio of 6.42:1 mean that fuel consumption (on volume or mass bases) will be higher than hydrocarbon fuels. The extra water produced also makes the charge rather wet (similar to hydrogen/oxygen combustion engines) and with the formation of acidic products during combustion, the wearing of valves, valve seats and cylinder might be higher than with hydrocarbon burning. Certain additives may be added to the fuel in order to neutralize these acids.
Methanol, just like ethanol, contains soluble and insoluble contaminants. These soluble contaminants, halide ions such as chloride ions, have a large effect on the corrosivity of alcohol fuels. Halide ions increase corrosion in two ways; they chemically attack passivating oxide films on several metals causing pitting corrosion, and they increase the conductivity of the fuel. Increased electrical conductivity promotes electric, galvanic, and ordinary corrosion in the fuel system. Soluble contaminants, such as aluminum hydroxide, itself a product of corrosion by halide ions, clog the fuel system over time.
Methanol is hygroscopic, meaning it will absorb water vapor directly from the atmosphere.http://www.methanex.com/products/faqs.html Because absorbed water dilutes the fuel value of the methanol (although it suppresses engine knock), and may cause phase separation of methanol-gasoline blends, containers of methanol fuels must be kept tightly sealed.
Racing
Beginning in 1965, pure methanol was used widespread in USAC Indy carAmerican Championship Car Racing
Since 1916 there has been a recognized United States national automobile racing National Championship for drivers of professional-level, single-seat open wheel race cars. The championship has been under the auspices of several different sanctioning bodies since 1909. Since 1911, the Indianapolis...
competition, which at the time included the Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...
.
A seven-car crash on the second lap of the 1964 Indianapolis 500
1964 Indianapolis 500
The 1964 Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 30, 1964. It was won by A.J. Foyt, but is best known for a fiery seven-car, second-lap accident that resulted in the deaths of Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald...
resulted in USAC's decision to encourage, and later mandate, the use of methanol. Eddie Sachs
Eddie Sachs
Edward Julius Sachs, Jr, born May 28, 1927 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, died May 30, 1964 in Speedway, Indiana was a United States Auto Club driver who was known as the "Clown Prince of Auto Racing." He coined the phrase "If you can't win, be spectacular."...
and Dave MacDonald
Dave MacDonald
David George MacDonald was an American road racing champion noted for his successes driving Corvettes and Shelby Cobras in the early 1960s. His promising career ended abruptly after a crash in the 1964 Indianapolis 500 in which he was one of two drivers killed in a fiery inferno that directly led...
died in the crash when their gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
-fueled cars exploded. The gasoline-triggered fire created a dangerous cloud of thick black smoke that completely blocked the view of the track for oncoming cars. Johnny Rutherford
Johnny Rutherford
For the Major League Baseball pitcher, see Johnny Rutherford . For other people with a similar name, see John RutherfordJohn Sherman Rutherford III , better known as Johnny Rutherford, and also known as "Lone Star JR" is a former U.S...
, one of the other drivers involved, drove a methanol-fueled car, which also leaked following the crash. While this car burned from the impact of the first fireball, it formed a much smaller inferno than the gasoline cars, and one that burned invisibly. That testimony, and pressure from Indianapolis Star writer George Moore, led to the switch to alcohol fuel in 1965.
Methanol was used by the CART
Champ Car
Champ Car was the name for a class and specification of open wheel cars used in American Championship Car Racing for many decades, primarily for use in the Indianapolis 500 auto race...
circuit during its entire campaign (1979–2007). It is also used by many-short track organizations, especially midget, sprint cars and speedway bikes. Pure methanol was used by the IRL from 1996-2006.
In 2006, in partnership with the ethanol
Ethanol
Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a...
industry, the IRL used a mixture of 10% ethanol and 90% methanol as its fuel. Starting in 2007, the IRL switched to "pure" ethanol
Ethanol fuel
Ethanol fuel is ethanol , the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. It is most often used as a motor fuel, mainly as a biofuel additive for gasoline. World ethanol production for transport fuel tripled between 2000 and 2007 from 17 billion to more than 52 billion litres...
, E100.
Methanol fuel is also used extensively in drag racing
Drag racing
Drag racing is a competition in which specially prepared automobiles or motorcycles compete two at a time to be the first to cross a set finish line, from a standing start, in a straight line, over a measured distance, most commonly a ¼-mile straight track....
, primarily in the Top Alcohol
Top Alcohol
Top Alcohol dragsters are akin to the premier Top Fuel drag racing class, but produce much less horsepower. They are required to burn a lower-performance mixture of alcohol fuel instead of more volatile nitromethane. Engine sizes cannot exceed . Nitromethane-burning entries may also race in this...
category, while between 10% and 20% methanol may be used in Top Fuel
Top Fuel
Top Fuel racing is a class of drag racing in which the cars are run on a mix of approximately 90% nitromethane and 10% methanol rather than gasoline or simply methanol. The cars are purpose-built for drag racing, with an exaggerated layout that in some ways resembles open-wheel circuit racing...
classes in addition to Nitromethane
Nitromethane
Nitromethane is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest organic nitro compound. It is a slightly viscous, highly polar liquid commonly used as a solvent in a variety of industrial applications such as in extractions, as a reaction medium, and as a cleaning solvent...
.
Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
racing continues to use gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
as its fuel, but in prewar grand prix racing methanol was often used in the fuel.
Methanol is also used in Monster Truck
Monster truck
A monster truck is a pickup truck, typically styled after pickup trucks' bodies, modified or purposely built with extremely large wheels and suspension...
racing.
Fuel for model engineModel engineIn radio-controlled modeling, a model engine is an internal combustion engine used to power a radio-controlled aircraft, radio-controlled car, radio-controlled boat, free flight and control line aircraft, and tether car models also use these engines....
s
The earliest model engineModel engine
In radio-controlled modeling, a model engine is an internal combustion engine used to power a radio-controlled aircraft, radio-controlled car, radio-controlled boat, free flight and control line aircraft, and tether car models also use these engines....
s for free-flight model aircraft flown before the end of World War II used a 3:1 mix of white gas
White gas
White gas is a common name for two flammable substances. In its most common modern usage, it is used as a generic name for camp stove and lantern fuel, usually naphtha....
and motor oil for the two-stroke spark ignition engines used for the hobby at that time. By 1948, the new glow plug
Glow plug (model engine)
A glow plug is a device, similar to a spark plug, used to help ignite the fuel in the very small internal combustion engines typically used in model aircraft, model cars and similar applications...
-ignition model engines began to take over the market, requiring the use of methanol fuel to react in a catalytic
Catalysis
Catalysis is the change in rate of a chemical reaction due to the participation of a substance called a catalyst. Unlike other reagents that participate in the chemical reaction, a catalyst is not consumed by the reaction itself. A catalyst may participate in multiple chemical transformations....
reaction with the coiled platinum
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal...
filament in a glow plug for the engine to run. The glow-ignition variety of model engine, because it no longer required an onboard battery
Battery (electricity)
An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...
, ignition coil
Ignition coil
An ignition coil is an induction coil in an automobile's ignition system which transforms the battery's 12 volts to the thousands of volts needed to create an electric spark in the spark plugs to ignite the fuel...
, ignition points
Contact breaker
A contact breaker is a type of electrical switch, and the term typically refers to the switching device found in the distributor of the ignition systems of spark-ignition internal combustion engines.-Purpose:...
and capacitor that a spark ignition model engine required, saved valuable weight and allowed model aircraft to have better flight performance. In their current two- and four-stroke forms, methanol-fueled glow engines are the usual choice for radio controlled aircraft for recreational use, for engine sizes that can range from 0.8 cm3 (0.049 cu.in.) to as large as 25 to 32 cm3 (1.5-2.0 cu.in) displacement.
Toxicity
Methanol occurs naturally in the human body and in some fruits, but is poisonous in sufficient concentration. Ingestion of 10 ml can cause blindness and 60-100 ml can be fatal if the condition is untreated.http://www-clinpharm.medschl.cam.ac.uk/pages/teaching/topics/poison/poison9.html. Like many volatile chemicals, methanol does not have to be swallowed to be dangerous since the liquid can be absorbed through the skin, and the vapors through the lungs. Methanol fuel is much safer when blended with ethanol, even at relatively low ethanol percentages.US maximum allowed exposure in air (40 h/week) is 1900 mg/m³ for ethanol, 900 mg/m³ for gasoline, and 1260 mg/m³ for methanol. However, it is much less volatile than gasoline, and therefore has lower evaporative emissions, producing a lower exposure risk for an equivalent spill. While methanol offers somewhat different toxicity exposure pathways, the effective toxicity is no worse than those of benzene or gasoline, and methanol poisoning is far easier to treat successfully. One substantial concern is that methanol poisoning generally must be treated while it is still asymptomatic
Asymptomatic
In medicine, a disease is considered asymptomatic if a patient is a carrier for a disease or infection but experiences no symptoms. A condition might be asymptomatic if it fails to show the noticeable symptoms with which it is usually associated. Asymptomatic infections are also called subclinical...
for full recovery.
Inhalation risk is mitigated by a characteristic pungent odor. At concentrations greater than 2,000 ppm (0.2%) it is generally quite noticeable, however lower concentrations may remain undetected while still being potentially toxic over longer exposures, and may still present a fire/explosion hazard. Again, this is similar to gasoline and ethanol; standard safety protocols exist for methanol and are very similar to those for gasoline and ethanol.
Use of methanol fuel reduces the exhaust emissions of certain hydrocarbon-related toxins such as benzene and 1,3 butadiene, and dramatically reduces long term groundwater pollution caused by fuel spills. Unlike benzene-family fuels, methanol will rapidly and non-toxically biodegrade with no long-term harm to the environment as long as it is sufficiently diluted.
Fire Safety
Methanol is far more difficult to ignite than gasoline and burns about 60% slower. A methanol fire releases energy at around 20% of the rate of a gasoline fire, resulting in a much cooler flame. This results in a much less dangerous fire that is easier to contain with proper protocols. Unlike gasoline, water is acceptable and even preferred as a fire suppressant, since this both cools the fire and rapidly dilutes the fuel below the concentration where it will maintain self-flammability. These facts mean that, as a vehicle fuel, methanol has great safety advantages over gasoline. Ethanol shares many of these same advantages, but at a lower fuel-energy efficiency.Since methanol vapor is heavier than air, it will linger close to the ground or in a pit unless there is good ventilation, and if the concentration of methanol is above 6.7% in air it can be lit by a spark and will explode above 54 F / 12 C. Once ablaze, an undiluted methanol fire gives off very little visible light, making it potentially very hard to see the fire or even estimate its size in bright daylight, although in the vast majority of cases, existing pollutants or flammables in the fire (such as tires or asphalt) will color and enhance the visibility of the fire. Ethanol, natural gas, hydrogen, and other existing fuels offer similar fire-safety challenges, and standard safety and firefighting protocols exist for all such fuels.
Post-accident environmental damage mitigation is facilitated by the fact that low-concentration methanol is biodegradable, of low toxicity, and non-persistent in the environment. Post-fire cleanup often merely requires large additional amounts of water to dilute the spilled methanol followed by vacuuming or absorption recovery of the fluid. Any methanol that unavoidably escapes into the environment will have little long-term impact, and with sufficient dilution will rapidly biodegrade with little to no environmental damage due to toxicity. A methanol spill that combines with an existing gasoline spill can cause the mixed methanol/gasoline spill to persist about 30% to 35% longer than the gasoline alone would have done.
United States
The State of California ran an experimental program from 1980 to 1990 that allowed anyone to convert a gasoline vehicle to 85% methanol with 15% additives of choice. Over 500 vehicles were converted to high compression and dedicated use of the 85/15 methanol and ethanol, with great results. Detroit was not willing to produce any methanol or ethanol vehicles without government subsidy.In 1982 the big three were each given $5,000,000 for design and contracts for 5,000 vehicles to be bought by the State. That was the beginning of the low-compression flexible-fuel vehicle
Flexible-fuel vehicle
A flexible-fuel vehicle or dual-fuel vehicle is an alternative fuel vehicle with an internal combustion engine designed to run on more than one fuel, usually gasoline blended with either ethanol or methanol fuel, and both fuels are stored in the same common tank...
s that we can still buy today.
In 2005, California's Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
, 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.
Presently there are over 60 operating gas stations in California supplying methanol in their pumps.
Rep. Eliot Engel [D-NY17] has introduced "An Open Fuel Standard" Act in Congress: "To require automobile manufacturers to ensure that not less than 80 percent of the automobiles manufactured or sold in the United States by each such manufacturer to operate on fuel mixtures containing 85 percent ethanol, 85 percent methanol, or biodiesel."
European Union
The amended Fuel Quality Directive adopted in 2009 allows up to 3% v/v blend-in of methanol in petrol.Brazil
A drive to add an appreciable percentage of methanol to gasoline got very close to implementation in BrazilBrazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, following a pilot test set up by a group of scientists involving 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. , the idea has not resurfaced.
See also
- Alcohol fuelAlcohol fuelAlthough fossil fuels have become the dominant energy resource for the modern world, alcohol has been used as a fuel throughout history. The first four aliphatic alcohols are of interest as fuels because they can be synthesized chemically or biologically, and they have characteristics which allow...
- Ethanol fuelEthanol fuelEthanol fuel is ethanol , the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. It is most often used as a motor fuel, mainly as a biofuel additive for gasoline. World ethanol production for transport fuel tripled between 2000 and 2007 from 17 billion to more than 52 billion litres...
- Gasoline gallon equivalent
- Glow fuelGlow fuelGlow fuel is a generic term used to describe a fuel source used in model engines -- generally the same or similar fuels can be used in model airplanes, helicopters, cars and boats. Glow fuel can be burned by very simple two stroke engines or by more complicated four stroke engines and these...
- Direct methanol fuel cell
- List of energy topics
- Liquid fuelsLiquid fuelsLiquid fuels are those combustible or energy-generating molecules that can be harnessed to create mechanical energy, usually producing kinetic energy; they also must take the shape of their container...
- Methanol economyMethanol economyThe methanol economy is a suggested future economy in which methanol replaces fossil fuels as a means of energy storage, ground transportation fuel, and raw material for synthetic hydrocarbons and their products. It offers an alternative to the proposed hydrogen economy or ethanol economy.In the...
- Flex fuel vehicles
- Oil crisisOil crisisOil crisis may refer to:1970s*1970s energy crisis*1973 oil crisis*1979 energy crisisPost 1970s*Oil price increase of 1990*2000s energy crisis...
- Timeline of alcohol fuelTimeline of alcohol fuelEthanol, an alcohol fuel, is an important fuel for the operation of internal combustion engines that are used in cars, trucks, and other kinds of machinery.*Since ancient times ethanol has been used for lamp oil and cooking, along with plant and animal oils...
- Dimethyl etherDimethyl etherDimethyl ether , also known as methoxymethane, is the organic compound with the formula . The simplest ether, it is a colourless gas that is a useful precursor to other organic compounds and an aerosol propellant. When combusted, DME produces minimal soot and CO, though HC and NOx formation is...
External links
- Methanol Safety Concerns, Advantages and Corrosive properties
- 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 NobelNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
laureate George OlahGeorge Andrew OlahGeorge Andrew Olah is an American chemist. His research involves the generation and reactivity of carbocations via superacids. For this research, Olah was awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1994...
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://www-clinpharm.medschl.cam.ac.uk/pages/teaching/topics/poison/poison9.html University of Cambridge, General Management of Acute Poisoning, Specific Poisonings: Methanol