Methanol economy

The methanol economy is a hypothetical, future energy economy in which methanol is supposed to replace fossil fuels as the primary energy carrier at all stages of the energy industry (production, storage, transmission, trade, distribution ...) and becomes the dominant energy carrier. The methanol economy would be an alternative to the propagated models of a hydrogen economy .

Even today, methanol, mostly as a derivative such as biodiesel or MTBE , is used to a considerable extent in the fuel sector. In the European Union, up to 3% methanol can be used as an additive to gasoline. Processes such as methanol to gasoline can be used to produce engine gasoline from methanol , while secondary products such as dimethyl ether can be used as a substitute for diesel fuel .

In order to use methanol and its secondary products such as dimethyl ether, the existing internal combustion engines must be further developed or be usable as flexible fuel vehicles for various types of fuel. Drives based on fuel cells are also possible .

Manufacturing

Methanol is produced industrially from carbon monoxide and hydrogen. This mixture, known as synthesis gas, is mainly obtained from natural gas . Ideally, the carbon for the methanol synthesis could in future be obtained with the help of regenerative energies from atmospheric instead of fossil sources. This is an alternative to the depleted oil, gas and coal reserves and the limited usable biomass, a possible way to provide energy.

In 1986 Friedrich Asinger published the book Methanol - Chemical and Energy Raw Material: The Mobilization of Coal , in which he described methanol as a chemical raw material as well as an energy carrier and the main features of a future methanol economy.

The idea was taken up in 2005 by Nobel Prize winner George A. Olah in the book Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy, in which the opportunities and possibilities of the methanol economy are discussed. He records arguments against the hydrogen economy and explains the possibilities of producing methanol from carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) or methane .

Olah suggests enriching carbon dioxide from the air by absorbing it on suitable carrier materials from which it could be recovered in concentrated form. Potassium hydroxide and calcium carbonate are mentioned as possible absorbents. However, the energy required to release the carbon dioxide stored in this way is high, so that better substances have to be developed. The extraction process from ambient air is currently the most expensive due to the low CO ₂ concentration in the air (0.037%).

Alternatively, at least until the end of the fossil fuel economy, the reuse of filtered combustion exhaust gases from power plants with up to 15% CO _{2 is} discussed. However, this carbon dioxide would end up in the atmosphere.

"It is proposed that methanol be used as (i) a convenient energy storage medium , (ii) an easily transported and distributed fuel, including uses in methanol fuel cells, and (iii) as a feedstock for synthetic hydrocarbons and their products, including polymers and single cell proteins ( for animal feed and / or human consumption). The source of carbon will ultimately be the air available to everyone on earth, while the necessary energy will be obtained from alternative energy sources, including nuclear power. "

- George A. Olah : Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy , p. 170

application

Methanol and its secondary products such as dimethyl ether can then be used both in classic combustion engines as fuel and in methanol fuel cells to generate electricity .

The existing infrastructure and technology can be used to store, transport and distribute the methanol, which is liquid at room temperature. Long distances between consumers and producers of renewable energies can then be bridged efficiently. The energy storage density is around 50% of the storage density for gasoline and diesel.

advantages

In terms of volume and weight, methanol is a powerful energy store and can be sold via the existing gasoline infrastructure. Methanol can be mixed with gasoline and is used as a raw material for the chemical industry. Methanol can be produced from synthesis gas from any organic material using the known low and medium pressure processes.

Pure methanol evaporates completely without leaving any residue and is therefore used as a cleaning agent for the final cleaning step to produce extremely clean surfaces. Example: Glass substrates for the production of thin polymer films are cleaned in this way using the spin coating process.

disadvantage

The high energy costs associated with generating the hydrogen are disadvantageous. Synthesis gas is currently produced from fossil fuels. The energy density by weight or volume is only half that of gasoline. Methanol etches aluminum, so the use of aluminum parts in the engine fuel intake system can be problematic.

Due to the hydrophilicity , gel-like and solid deposits can form in the fuel inlet system, especially in cold weather, where a non-flammable and corrosive component is possible. Methanol, like alcohol, increases the permeability of some plastics to fuel vapors, for example high-density polyethylene . This property of methanol carries the risk of increasing emissions of volatile organic compounds ( VOCs ) from the fuel, which contributes to increased tropospheric ozone.

In contrast to petrol or diesel, methanol does not have any lubricating properties. This prohibits, for example, the use of methanol in pumps that rely on the lubricating effect of the conveying medium.

Methanol has a very strong degreasing and corrosive effect.

The flame of methanol is invisible.

Methanol has low volatility in cold weather. Methanol-powered engines could therefore have starting difficulties and run uneconomically until they reach operating temperature. Methanol is poisonous and even has a lower lethal dose when ingested than gasoline. On the other hand, unlike gasoline, it does not contain any carcinogenic substances; A harmful effect of the breakdown product formaldehyde , classified by the WHO as "carcinogenic for humans" ( CMR hazardous substance ) in 2004, is controversial, as this is rapidly further metabolized to formic acid, the accumulation of which can lead to metabolic acidosis and in the worst case to death.

Methanol is a liquid that creates a greater risk of fire; unlike hydrogen and other gases, methanol does not diffuse away from leaks. Methanol accidentally released when leaking underground fuel tanks can leak into groundwater relatively quickly and pollute spring water, although this hazard has not been fully investigated. The history of the fuel additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) as a groundwater contaminant has highlighted the importance of identifying the potential effects of the fuel and fuel additives.

production

Europe

In Iceland, the company Carbon Recycling International operates a plant for the production of methanol. The facility was named after Olah.

In May 2019, as part of the EU research project MefCO ₂ (methanol fuel from CO ₂ , English methanol fuel from CO ₂ ), a demonstration plant was put into operation at the Niederaussem power plant in Germany with a daily production capacity of one tonne of methanol.

In Germany there is a project of the Carbon2Chem initiative by Thyssenkrupp and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research on the production of methanol from smelter exhaust gases .

China

Parts of this section since 2007 seem out of date to be .
Please help to research and insert the missing information .

According to a study by management consultancy Methanol Market Services Asia (MMSA), it is estimated that global capacity will increase by 55.8 million tons by 2027, of which 38 million tons will be used as fuel.

The production of methanol in China is predominantly based on coal and is to be used both as a fuel with a high methanol content such as M85 and M100 and as a derivative such as dimethyl ether. In 2007, the price of spot methanol in China was around 40% of the price of gasoline. State commissions in China are working on national methanol fuel standards; Chinese car manufacturers are working on improved methanol engines.

The Chinese capacity for dimethyl ether production from methanol is expected to increase from just under one million tons in 2007 to over six million tons. Sinopec alone wants to expand its DME capacity to three million tons.

literature

• F. Asinger : Methanol, chemical and energy raw material . Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-05-500341-1 .
• Martin Bertau, Heribert Offermanns , Ludolf Plass, Friedrich Schmidt, Hans-Jürgen Wernicke: Methanol: The Basic Chemical and Energy Feedstock of the Future: Asinger's Vision Today . Verlag Springer, 2014, ISBN 978-3-642-39708-0 (750 pages).

Web links

• Methanol instead of hydrogen , interview with George Olah, Technology Review
• M. Specht and A. Band, "Der Methanolkreislauf" , Topics 98/99 "Sustainability of Energy", Research Association for Solar Energy, p. 59, Cologne, 1999 (PDF file; 671 kB)
• Methanol economy on energieinfo.de
• The myth of hydrogen , Die Zeit 42/2004
• Book review: Beyond Oil and Gas Jürgen O. Metzger, University of Oldenburg (PDF file; 171 kB)
• Methanol as an energy carrier (PDF; 5.8 MB), publications by Forschungszentrum Jülich, Energietechnik series, volume 28

Individual evidence

1. ^ W. Keim , H. Offermanns : Beyond OiI and Gas: Early Aachen Visions. In: News from chemistry. 58, 2010, pp. 434-435, doi: 10.1002 / nadc.201069272 .
2. ↑ GA Olah, A. Goeppert, GK Surya Prakash: Beyond oil and gas: the methanol economy (as Google Book)}
3. ^ The Methanol Alternative ( Memento from September 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) by Robert Zubrin in The New Atlantis
4. ↑ Niederaussem is the scene of important technological advances. RWE Power AG, May 28, 2019, accessed on January 25, 2020 . 
5. ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Methanol and Derivates Analysis 2007 ) (PDF; 115 kB) by MMSA