Clyde WTN

What is Methanol and its use

Methanol is a transparent liquid chemical that is found in hundreds of common items such as plastics, paints, cosmetics, and fuels. Methanol is also an energy resource utilised in the maritime, automotive, and electrical industries, as well as a promising renewable energy source.

Methanol is a water-soluble and biodegradable organic molecule that is composed of four parts hydrogen, one part oxygen, and one part carbon. It is the most basic member of a class of organic chemicals known as alcohols. Methanol is a biodegradable, clean-burning fuel.

Methanol's environmental and economic benefits are increasingly making it an appealing alternative fuel for powering automobiles and ships, cooking meals, and heating homes.

Methanol plays an important role in the chemical industry as a very flexible building component in the production of a wide range of daily items such as paints, carpets, plastics, and more.
Methanol is increasingly being utilised in a variety of creative applications throughout the world, including fuelling our vehicles and trucks, maritime vessels, boilers, cookstoves, and kilns, to name a few.

ROAD

Methanol is increasingly being used in transportation fuels. Methanol is a flexible, cost-effective alternative transportation fuel due to its efficient combustion, simplicity of distribution, and global availability. Methanol is utilised in gasoline blends all over the globe in low (3-5%), mid (15-30%), and high (50-100%) volume percentages, as well as as a diesel replacement in heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs).

MARINE

Methanol is a globally available fuel, available at over 100 ports worldwide, and one of the cleanest fuels for marine engines. Methanol is already being used to power tankers, ferries, pilot boats, and other vessels at ports and on the high seas.
Methanol requires very modest changes to existing bunkering infrastructure and operates as a drop-in or dual-fuel with existing engine technology.

Taking all of this into account, we are convinced that methanol reforming for hydrogen generation, in conjunction with a PEM fuel cell, is the missing link in decarbonizing inland transportation and improving its unit economics.

HEAT

Methanol is a low-emissions alternative heating fuel. Methanol is used as a cookstove fuel in Shanghai restaurant kitchens, to heat buildings in Shanxi, and to dry tea in Darjeeling. The shift to methanol has been fueled mostly by air pollution in China, the world's largest market for these applications. Coal burning on a huge scale was generating haze and poor air quality.

FUEL CELLS

Hydrogen is used as a fuel in fuel cells to generate clean and efficient energy that can power automobiles, trucks, buses, ships, cell phone towers, residences, and companies. Methanol is a good hydrogen carrier fuel, containing more hydrogen in this simple alcohol molecule than compressed (350-700 pressure) or liquified (-253 C) hydrogen.

Methanol may be "reformed" on-site at a filling station to produce hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles. Or in fixed power systems that supply fuel cells to cell phone towers, construction sites, or ocean buoys. Methanol fuel cells can be refuelled as rapidly as your present gasoline or diesel car, and they can increase the range of a battery electric vehicle from 200 km to over 1,000 km.

Methanol is the most inexpensive, sustainable, and readily handled hydrogen carrier fuel since it can be generated from a wide range of conventional and renewable feedstocks.

DERIVATIVES

Methanol is a major component of hundreds of chemicals that we use on a daily basis. In terms of volume, the most important uses are the manufacture of formaldehyde, which is then processed to produce resins, glues, and different plastics, and the production of acetic acid, which is primarily utilised in the manufacturing of polyester fibres and PET plastics.

WASTE WATER

Methanol is essential in cleansing the water released by wastewater treatment plants all over the world. Wastewater treatment plants use a process known as "denitrification" to convert excess nitrate into nitrogen gas, which is then released into the atmosphere rather than contaminating vulnerable watersheds.

Methanol is the most effective route to zero-carbon inland shipping

According to Marine managing director Stuart Crawford, methanol, an effective hydrogen transporter, combined with a PEM fuel cell, can help decarbonize the inland waterways fleet.

According to current data, land shipping constitutes a crucial link in the supply chain, moving 550 million tonnes of cargo yearly across Europe's rivers and 470 million tonnes of cargo in the United States.

However, if it is to remain the preferred mode of transportation over land-based competitors who are decarbonizing quicker, the industry must reduce its emissions.

These networks' inland cargo vessels, towboats, and tugboats are already among the least polluting vessels in the maritime sector. This is supported by statistics showing that rail produces 39% more CO2, whereas truck transport emits 371 percent more. Despite their present performance, however, inland waterway boats will fall short of developing regional and worldwide environmental requirements.

The fact is that many of the vessels operating on Europe's and the United States' inland waterway networks were built long before sustainable operations became a concern. This is mirrored in the conventional vessel design, which is powered mostly by internal combustion engines. These engines are loud, emit a lot of NOx, SOx, and particulate matter (PM), and emit a lot of greenhouse gases, yet they're nevertheless popular because of their dependability, familiarity, and - until recently – a lack of convincing alternatives.

The bunkering network and equipment are well established to provide marine diesel oil and marine gasoil, exacerbating the issue of reducing emissions. As a result, the ‘greening' of the inland transport fleet necessitates a new strategy.

Methanol, as others before us recognised, is a chemically highly efficient hydrogen transporting medium. Methanol, an authorised fuel type in the marine sector, is cost competitive – even when compared to modern diesel generators – and easily available at more than 85 of the world's top 100 ports. It also overcomes the issues of high-priced hydrogen storage and supply constraint.

Indeed, industry leaders are increasingly recognising methanol's potential in aiding in the achievement of decarbonisation goals. Nonetheless, there is minimal worry that demand will outstrip supply. Chris Chatterton, chief operating officer of the Methanol Institute, has stated that “annual worldwide output of methanol and its renewable forms will more than fivefold over the next 30 years”.