What's the difference between Methanol and Bio-Methanol?

Whoops - methane CH4, methanol CH3OH

Mahonj:

On this exact page on top left corner go to “topics” and click on “gas-to-liquids”. You will get the picture.

The glycerine by-product from biodiesel production contains a methanol component derived from fossil sources, usually natural gas. Therefore, if the plant is simply recycling the methanol component out of glycerine from biodiesel plants, how can the end product be classified as biomethanol?

Donee, indy cars used to run on methanol, however they are moving over to ethanol over the next few years.

The fact that there is a second reaction that takes 4 H2 + 2 CO2 -> CH3OH + O2 is a hidden boon. Nearby gas/coal fired power plants may pipe some of their scrubbed exhaust CO2 to the methanol plant. This would result in increased methanol production, w/decreased CO2 output.
_This may be a moot point since gasifiers can use the syngas to make other fuels/chemicals.

Vin Diesel -

while it is true that the transesterification of triglycerides (aka vegetable oils and animal fats) does require methanol, it is not necessarily true that this has to be derived from fossil fuels. Part of the methanol derived from the glycerol residue could conceivably be recycled into biodiesel production, such that both it and the methanol would truly be from renewable sources. It's not clear if that is how the Dutch plan to to this, though.

Another ready source of biomethanol (aka wood alcohol) is the fermentation of forestry waste. Sweden and Finland comprise 2/3 of that industry in Europe.

While Sweden is a recognized leader in biofuels (ethanol), both the Netherlands and Finland are lagging behind on their commitments to the EU. Using biomethanol as a high-octane oxygenate would fit the bill, with a few caveats:

(a) it's far more toxic than ethanol, and in pure form burns with a nearly invisible flame. Extra safety precautions are required for handling it at blending facilities (and at NASCAR, btw).

(b) all hydrocarbon combustion processes produce some formaldehyde, but methanol more so than others. In the US, it is a restricted emission.

(c) the hydrogen-to-oxygen ratio in methanol is low, leading to low specific energy. This is acceptable in low blends but you pretty quickly fall fall of the maximum amount of oxygen permitted by law in regular gasoline and diesel.

(d) the vehicle fleet deployed in Europe features fuel systems that are less resilient to aggressive alcohols than their US counterparts (which have to meet CA summer gasoline formulations). This is another reason methanol blends would have to remain low.

Note that it is possible convert methanol into longer hydrocarbon chains via the Mobil MTG process. This is an alternative to Fischer-Tropsch but harder to control. The simpler process of catalytic chemical dehydration yields dimethyl ether (DME), a clean-burning substitute for diesel. Unfortunately, like LPG, DME has to be stored at mild pressures (8-10 bar) to remain liquid, making it too expensive to use even as an oxygenate for diesel.

3) Biomethanol is CO2 neutral.

2) You can run M5 before problems occur.

1) Methanol will not contaminate ground water like MTBE.

www.methanol.org

Vin Diesel, Andrey -

methanol could indeed be used as a gasoline oxygenate but as I indicated, blenders would fall foul of the oxygen and density standards defined for Euro 95 pretty quickly. Both MTBE and ethanol are better fits. Paul Hamm's statements favoring methanol over ethanol I would describe as a bit of self-serving marketing spin, though not entirely unreasonable. Biomethanol is easier, i.e. cheaper, to produce than bioethanol.

MTBE is a suspected carcinogen. There were a number of cases of groundwater contamination in California, at gas stations with single-hulled storage tanks that ended up leaking due to corrosion. The US EPA decided last year to withdraw its requirement for MTBE in summer gasoline, prompting blenders to very quickly switch to the only alternative available in volume: corn ethanol.

In Europe, gas stations have been required to use double-hulled storage tanks for decades and, there have been no reported cases of groundwater contamination. MTBE is still used as an oxygenate here. That is one of the reasons why much of the biofuel industry here is focussed on biodiesel, which is cheaper to produce than bioethanol (except in Sweden, apparently). However, now that the WTO has curbed subsidies to farmers growing sugar beets for food, a transition away from MTBE may yet happen in Europe as well.

The reason the industry went with MTBE instead of methanol is that MTBE is cheaper. MTBE is produced from isobutylene and methanol, where isobutylene is a byproduct of the refinery that would otherwise be flared off or used for heating etc. I.e. the price of methanol (whose price in turn is determined by its feedstock NG) determines the price of MTBE, but for each liter of MTBE produced the refinery needs only about 0.35->0.4 liters methanol. See http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/special/mtbecost.html

Thanks for the MTBE info. Congress did say they could use any oxygenate, so they picked the cheapest one.

When you say bioethanol, do you mean fermented or cellulose or gasified? Each one has its own cost structure. It usually has to do with yield per input unit, capital cost and energy required. Methanol can gasify from biomass at a higher efficiency than ethanol fermented from corn. As for feed stock, corn goes for maybe $3 per bushel (56 pounds) so a ton would cost $100 or so. A ton of biomass goes for about $30. These are not exact numbers, but it gives you some idea. As far as ETBE, I do not have a clue.

For your info

There are developments in DME/Methanol in China today:
Access to methanol, a key primary input, to manufacture DME , Xinao recognise this and JV with Methanex to grow the DME Business. While there are several technology developments recently for selective production of olefins, especially propylene either from methanol or from DME. UOP and Lurgi are fairly advanced in the technology. In fact Lurgi AG, will be sharing their experience at upcoming North Asia DME / Methanol conference in Beijing, 27-28 June 2007, St Regis Hotel. The conference covers key areas which include:

DME productivity can be much higher especially if
country energy policies makes an effort comparable to
that invested in increasing supply.
By:
National Development Reform Commission NDRC
Ministry of Energy for Mongolia

Production of DME/ Methanol through biomass
gasification could potentially be commercialized
By:
Shandong University completed Pilot plant in Jinan and
will be sharing their experience.

Advances in conversion technologies are readily
available and offer exciting potential of DME as a
chemical feedstock
By: Kogas, Lurgi and Haldor Topsoe

Available project finance supports the investments
that DME/ Methanol can play a large energy supply role
By: International Finance Corporation

For more information: www.iceorganiser.com