[LibertyRocks]

Pontiac:
The author is referring to Methanol, and not Ethanol.
The article also states that the figures are all based upon PRE-TAX fuel costs.

Neverdem:
Fascinating article. I was not aware that one could make methanol out of ANY biomass. Most things I had read stated that methanol could only be made out of fossil fuels. If it's true that Methanol can be made from any biomass source then it's a no-brainer. I don't see why we don't already do this (except the oil companies might freak out).

Without knowing much about this subject in depth, I can immediately see positives - and not many negatives.

[LibertyRocks]

oops... sorry for the double-post.

[dalereed]

The only difference in methanol and ethanol is one molicule that makes methanol poison and legal to sell.

As for price in the 50s we bought it for racing fuel and the only supplier was Shell Oil at 65 cents a gallon by the 55 gallon drum when gasoline was 13.0 cents a gallon.

Straignt ethanol is illegal to sell since it’s nothing but 100% vodka!!!!

[foxfield]

I was not aware that one could make methanol out of ANY biomass.

IIRC, it is easier to make methanol from fossil fuels, and better to use plant feedstocks for making ethanol. The beauty of ethanol is the net zero catbon footprint.

[foxfield]

catbon = carbon

[slowhandluke]

not many negatives.

Try this, methanol evaporates more easily, and is poisonous when inhaled. 1 oz could be a lethal dose. Since it is lighter than gasoline, the vapors also float a bit higher.

Methane burns invisibly.

Methane is more corrosive to rubber and many plastics than ethanol, and ethanol is more corrosive than gasoline.

Methanol is a weak acid and is corrosive to aluminum.

Methanol can make starting in cold weather harder.

Methanol is highly hydroscopic, and will suck water out of the air and so must be kept in tightly sealed containers to keep it from getting watered down.

Methanol burns cooler and can be put out with water, so there are some safety advantages. The lack of visible fire makes it less scary to the fans at a race track, but more dangerous to the drivers without nomex suits.

This isn't going to be a drop-in replacement for gasoline, but then again, ethanol required some re-engineering too. I think the poison problem will be hard to work around.