Syngas - Associação Brasileira de Produtores de Florestas Plantadas

Methanol use in current-technology vehicles has somedistinct advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side,methanol has a higher octane rating than gasoline. Thisreduces "knock" in today's engines and can result in greaterfuel efficiency with proper adjustment of the engine'scompression ratio. Methanol's high heat of vaporizationresults in lower peak flame temperatures than gasoline andlower nitrogen oxide emissions. Its greater tolerance to leancombustion higher air-to-fuel equivalence ratio results ingenerally lower overall emissions and higher energyefficiency. Dedicated-methanol-fuel vehicles would increasethis advantage even further.However, several disadvantages must be studied andovercome before neat methanol is considered a viablealternative to gasoline. Methanol's energy density is abouthalf that of gasoline, reducing the range a vehicle can travelon an equivalent tank of fuel. Current-technology vehiclesusing neat methanol at temperatures below 45 degreesFahrenheit are difficult to start because of methanol's lowervapor pressure and single boiling point.Leading Methanol Producing RegionsEurope.................................................2,616USA.....................................................1,805Australia/Asia..........................................900Canada/Mexico........................................837Far East/Asia..........................................733South America........................................713Middle East.............................................628Africa......................................................266Total World...........................................8,498Billions of Gallonsper YearSource: Information Resources, Inc. andClean Fuels Development CoalitionHowever, engineering solutions to these problems have been identified and are under development. For example, 85percent methanol solves the cold start difficulties because of its 15 percent-gasoline component. The availability of 85percent methanol is limited, but growing through a network of dozens of gasoline stations in the key, high-population areasof California.Because methanol is a liquid fuel, fueling modes are consistent with those already used for gasoline. As DOE, otheragencies and industry continue their demonstration and evaluation, answers will be found to mitigate barriers to the use ofmethanol as an alternative transportation fuel.