METHANOL PRODUCTION FROM BIOMASS AND NATURAL-GAS AS TRANSPORTATION FUEL

Two processes are examined for production of methanol. They are assess ed against the essential requirements of a future alternative fuel for road transport: that it (i) is producible in amounts comparable to th e 19 EJ of motor fuel annually consumed in the U.S., (ii) minimizes em issions of criteria pollutants, (iii) reduces greenhouse gas emissions from production and use, (iv) is cost-competitive with petroleum fuel , and (v) is compatible with the emerging vehicle technologies, especi ally those powered by fuel cells. The methanol yield, production cost, and potential for reduction of overall fuel-cycle CO2 emissions were evaluated and compared to those of reformulated gasoline. The results show that a process utilizing natural gas and biomass as cofeedstocks can meet the five requirements more effectivly than individual process es utilizing those feedstocks separately. When end-use efficiencies ar e accounted for, the cost per vehicle mile traveled would be less than that of gasoline used in current vehicles. CO2 emissions from the veh icle fleet would be reduced 66% by methanol used in fuel cell vehicles and 8-36% in flexible-fuel or dedicated-methanol vehicles during the transition period. Methanol produced from natural gas and biomass, tog ether in one process, and used in fuel cell vehicles would leverage pe troleum displacement by a factor of about 5 and achieve twice the over all CO2 emission reduction obtainable from the use of biomass alone.