METHANOL/ BIOMETHANOL Jordan Kuchta
Feb 23, 2016
METHANOL/BIOMETHANOL
Jordan Kuchta
What is Methanol? It is the simplest alcohol, and is a light, volatile,
colorless, flammable, liquid with a distinctive odor very similar to, but slightly sweeter than, ehtanol
At room temperature, it is a polar liquid, and is used as an antifreeze, solvent, fuel, and as a denaturant for ethanol
Due to its toxic properties, methanol is used as a denaturant additive for ethanol manufactured for industrial uses — this addition of methanol exempts industrial ethanol from liquor excise taxation
How is it Made? Methanol (CH3OH) is conventionally
produced from methane (natural gas) Purified methane (CH4 ) is cracked with
steam in a steam reformer using a nickel catalyst at high temperature (>500°C)
The methane and steam splits into syngas, a mix of H2, CO2 and CO
The syngas is cooled and compressed to around 100 bar, with the separate components reacting in a synthesis reactor to produce methanol
Uses for Methanol It is also used for producing biodiesel via
transesterification reaction Methanol burns in air, forming carbon
dioxide and water Basic organic material that is used to
make formaldehyde, acitic acid, methylic halid, DMC
It is used as a cheap organic material and solvent in pesticides, medicine, dye
More Uses Pure methanol is required by rule to be
used in champcars, Monster Trucks, USAC sprint cars, and other dirt track series
Methanol has been used as the primary fuel ingredient since the late 1940s, in the power plants for radio control, control line, and free flight airplanes
Advantages Methanol by itself is not likely to cause environmental harm at
levels normally found in the environment Effects of methanol on human health and the environment depend
on how much methanol is present and the length and frequency of exposure
Methanol burns at lower temperatures than petrol, which reduces the heat lost from the exhaust
Effects also depend on the health of a person or the condition of the environment when exposure occurs
It does not contribute to air pollution It is less toxic to plants and animals than conventional gasoline
and diesel It is less flammable and safer to handle than gasoline It can be made from renewable resources and is more cost-
efficient than current day fuels being used
Disadvntages Methanol can contribute to the
formation of photochemical smog when it reacts with other volatile organic carbon substances in air.
Exposure can occur when people use certain paint strippers, aerosol spray paints, wall paints, windshield wiper fluid, and small engine fuel
When using coal in the production of methanol, that will release sulfur dioxide into the air, as a greenhouse gas
Production Today, methanol is produced in the U.S. for mostly nonfuel
usage There are eighteen U.S. methanol production plants, with a
total annual capacity of over 2.6 billion gallons Today most of the methanol in the U.S. is produced from
natural gas and shifting to methanol as our major transportation fuel requires greatly upping production
The biggest potential source of methanol in the U.S. is coal A major power plant in Tampa, Florida, built under the
auspices of the Department of Energy, has proven the feasibility of converting coal to syn-gas on a very large scale
In Kingsport, Tennessee, a plant participating in the Department of Energy's Clean Coal Technology Program combines both processes, for clean mass production of methanol from coal at under $0.50 a gallon
Production With fuels normally being hydrocarbons,
the carbon burns in oxygen to form CO2 and / or CO with hydrogen burning to form water vapour (there can also be hydrocarbons, and NOx and SOx in emissions)
If produced from a renewable resource, the fuel just returns the carbon back into the atmosphere, but methanol has until now been almost all fossil fuel generated
Biomethanol Biomethanol is identical to methanol,
which is the simplest (and cheapest) of the alcohols
It is a versatile chemical that can produce a range of polymers and fuels
Its most immediate fuel use is to produce bio-methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) to increase octane levels in petrol to prevent 'knocking'
More Bioethanol It has been successfully produced from
feedstocks like wood waste, grass, algae, black liquor from pulping processes, and methane gas from landfills and animal waste
It has the potential to become the least expensive of the carbon neutral biofuels
Using biomethanol would need only slight changes to filling stations and car engines – unlike hydrogen, which would need a completely new infrastructure
Advantages Longer term, biomethanol is a good alternative to ethanol
for replacing petrol in automotive engines Nobel Prize winner George Olah has recommended an
entire methanol economy instead of the much-promoted hydrogen economy.
Biomethanol – like biodiesel – should be produced without taking up the agricultural land that is increasingly needed to feed the world's population (a quarter of grain crops grown in the USA are already reportedly being diverted from food to produce fuel for cars, which is simply unsustainable)
"Biomethanol's versatility is attractive to countries looking for security of fuel supplies."
The flame speed (speed of expansion of a flame front during combustion) is higher, so combustion efficiency is higher and with better tolerance to exhaust gas recirculation
Disadvantages The disadvantages basically consist of
the same negative effects as methanol
Works Cited http://www.chemicals-technology.com/
features/feature77667/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/
article.cfm?id=radical-energy-solutions http://www.chemicals-technology.com/fea
tures/feature77667/ http://www.epa.gov/chemfact/f_methan.t
xt