Methanol Efficiency
“The gasoline engine in a car is roughly 17 percent efficient and requires a temperature of 600 to 700 degrees Celsius to operate — this is called well to wheel efficiency based on Carnot limitations,” Prakash said. “At room temperature, methanol can be up to 97 percent theoretically efficient.”
Surya Prakash PhD
Leading fuel scientists believe that methanol is one of the most versatile synthetic fuels available, and its use could extend or substitute depleting reserves of crude oil. Methanol production is able to economically use natural gas streams which might otherwise go up in flares from remote locations. Even if methanol were used as a supplemental additive in gasoline motor fuel at concentrations from 5 to 15 percent, for use in internal combustion engines, there would be an immediate reduction in atmospheric pollution and automobile performance would improve. Interesting fact, methanol can be added to gasoline at 15 percent without the need to modify most engine or fuel system (please confirm this with your local dealer mechanic department). The growing number of automobiles designed to use 'flex' fuels opens up a market for M-85 fuel blends (85 percent methanol + 15 percent gasoline). M-85 can substitute E-85 without any substantial engine modification.
In the U.S. methanol is qualified as an Alternative Fuel. The following fuels are defined as alternative fuels by the Energy Policy Act (EPAct) of 1992: pure methanol, ethanol, and other alcohols; blends of 85% or more of alcohol with gasoline; natural gas and liquid fuels domestically produced from natural gas; liquefied petroleum gas (propane); coal-derived liquid fuels; hydrogen; electricity; pure biodiesel (B100); fuels, other than alcohol, derived from biological materials; and P-Series fuels. In addition, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) may designate other fuels as alternative fuels, provided that the fuel is substantially nonpetroleum, yields substantial energy security benefits, and offers substantial environmental benefits. For more information about the alternative fuels defined by EPAct 1992 as well as DOE's alternative fuel designation authority, visit the EPAct website. (Reference 42 U.S. Code 13211)
Methanol can be produced from natural gas, petroleum, coal, oil shale, wood, farm and municipal wastes. The wide range of carbon sources available to produce methanol position it as a very flexible fuel. Methanol is easily stored in conventional atmospheric fuel tanks and is safely shipped in tank trucks, tank cars and in pipeline systems.
Petroleum fuels such as diesel and gasoline have higher energy values when comparing fuels on a BTU per gallon. Most of these comparisons fail to define the positive influence on operating efficiencies. Of all the liquid fuels, methanol produces the second highest amount of energy on a volume basis.
There are many studies over the past 50 years reporting how methanol is a good fuel for internal combustion engines. Existing engines (not Flex Fuel rated) can be converted to use pure methanol by decreasing the ratio of air to fuel consumed from about 14 for gasoline to 6 for methanol, by providing for cold starts.
Methanol provides a lower carbon influence on exhaust as it contains only a single carbon atom. When compared to gasoline, the use of methanol in a standard test engine (without catalytic treatment of exhausts) yielded one-twentieth of the amount of unburned fuel, one-tenth of the amount of carbon dioxide, and about the same amount of oxides of nitrogen. In these studies the reduced emissions were attributed to methanol being able to burn without misfire at an air-to-fuel ratio of 25 percent higher than gasoline, exhaust temperature with methanol were 100 ℃ cooler. More spark retardation was possible with methanol because of its higher flame speed. It is suggested that greater performance and economy could be expected in an engine designed specifically for methanol.