Methanol blends with gasoline

Methanol Blends with Gasoline. A more probable development is the introduction of a methanol/gasoline blend. This fuel requires no modifications to existing car engines, and can use the existing distribution network. It could therefore act as a stepping stone between gasoline and 100% methanol. 

The cars fueled with a gasoline/methanol blend (M 15) show lower values only in the FTP and the FET. 

In Germany in the early 1950s, a 50 50 mixture of methanol and 2-propanol was blended with gasoline, first at a level of 7.5% and later at 1.5% (79). Complaints about stalling, power loss, and phase separation caused the ratio to be changed to 60 40 methanol 2-propanol but this apparentiy aggravated... 

The term gasohol has come into wide usage to identify, generally, a blend of gasoline and ethanol, with the latter derived from grain. The term may also be appHed to blends of methanol or other alcohols in gasolines or other hydrocarbons, without regard to sources of components. 

Many GTL-derived fuels are being considered for blending with gasoline and diesel to achieve emission reductions of particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen compounds (NOx) and nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHC). The most promising fuels converted from natural gas are methanol and ethers such as dimethyl ether (DME) and mcthyl-t-bntyl ether (MTBE). 

A variety of alternative fuels, including LPG, CNG, ethanol, methanol, as well as electricity, have been implemented on a small scale in the USA, but with limited success - the total number of alternative fuelled vehicles remains less than 1 % of the total fleet (Davis and Diegel, 2007). The largest alternative fuel used in the USA is ethanol derived from corn, which is currently blended with gasoline up to 10% by volume in some regions, and accounts for 3% of US transportation energy use. 

Not mentioned in the table is the direct use of methanol as fuel for automobiles. It is added in small amounts to gasoline, sometimes as a blend with other alcohols such as f-butyl alcohol, to increase octane ratings and lower the price of the gasoline. Experimentation is even being done on vehicles that bum pure methanol. This fuel use is usually captive but a good estimate is that it may account for almost 10% of the methanol produced. 

Alcohols. Reactions of the simple alcohols in air are of particular interest because of their use as alternate fuels, including as blends with gasoline (see Chapter 16.D). There are two possible abstraction sites for the reaction with methanol, the alcohol O-H or the alkyl... 

GASOHOL. Gasoline blended with alcohol. Typically 10% methanol or ethannl is hlendcd with the gasoline. 

Bums, V.R., et aL, Emissions with Reformulated Gasoline and Methanol Blends in 1992 and 1993 Model Year Vehicles, SAE Paper No. 941969, Society of Automotive Engineers, Warrendale, Pa., 1994. 

For gasoline substitution major problems are not expected. Brazil has used ethanol blended with gasoline for years without problems and now ethanol engines are part of the normal production of the Brazilian car industry. Methanol is very... 

By 1999, some 1 million afvs were on the road, only about 0.4 percent of all vehicles. In 1998, alternative fuels consumed in afvs substituted for some 334 million gallons of gasoline, about 0.3 percent of that year s total consumption. An additional 3.9 billion gallons of ethanol and methanol replaced gasoline that year, but those fuels were blended with gasoline and consumed in conventional vehicles. 

A blend of 15% methanol with gasoline (M15 blend) is the most practical initial approach because it requires only minor adjustments to engine fuel systems and is interchangeable with gasoline. It also provides a 3% improvement in energy efficiency, which largely offsets the lower heating value of methanol. 

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