Methanol fuel demand

The demand for transportation energy is assumed to be covered by equal amounts delivered to electric vehicles and to fuel cell-based vehicles. For the former, a 50% storage cycle loss associated with the entire battery cycle operation is assumed, and for the fuel cell-based vehicles, operation is assumed to be based upon either hydrogen or a more storable derivative (e.g., methanol). Fuel cells are considered to have a 50% conversion efficiency. In both... 

Indeed, the methanol industry all but abandoned support for the methanol fuel vehicle market it helped launch in 1988, as demand for MTBE consumed most of the world supply for methanol needed to produce it. At the end of the decade, the use of MTBE began to decline over concerns about water quality impacts, but ethanol use continues to grow at a steady pace. If making a market for agricultural products was a goal, we are increasingly successful. 

Assuming the whole fuel demand of Germany s traffic sector to be supplied by methanol, about 220 10 Nm of hydrogen is required, which is eleven times the present annual H2 production in Germany. 

It is interesting to note that furfural residue alone was sufficient to satisfy the demand of chemical grade methanol. This is due to the fact that all the available, least expensive fuel (furfural residue), was used to manufacture the most expensive product (chemical grade methanol). The transport sector requires the second most expensive methanol fuel, and any furfural residue left over after chemical grade methanol was used for production of the transportation grade methanol. The balance of the transportation grade methanol was supplied by the wood residue, the second least expensive feedstock. All the electric utility demand was satisfied by wood residue, and no corn stover was used. 

This development work was performed in several stages 2- and 10-kW systems [402] were built before the final size of 25 kW was achieved with the third generation prototype. The size of the 10-kW second generation methanol fuel processor was still fairly bulky at more than 860 L [402]. However, the efficiency of about 82% was relatively high already for membrane separation. The membrane separation modules have been described in Section 7.4. Figure 9.14 shows the gas flows and gas compositions for the 10-kWei system. About 95% methanol conversion was achieved and the reformate contained 3 vol.% carbon monoxide. The system had a high startup time demand of between 30 and 60 min. The response to the load changes required between 2 and 3 min [402]. 

Electroactive network membranes as artificial muscles, direct methanol fuel cells Electrochemical actuators, micromechanical systems, on-demand devices, chemical sensors, antibacterial nanocomposite materials, dye sensitized solar cells, microwave absorbing materials... 

High temperature steam reforming of natural gas accounts for 97% of the hydrogen used for ammonia synthesis in the United States. Hydrogen requirement for ammonia synthesis is about 336 m /t of ammonia produced for a typical 1000 t/d ammonia plant. The near-term demand for ammonia remains stagnant. Methanol production requires 560 m of hydrogen for each ton produced, based on a 2500-t/d methanol plant. Methanol demand is expected to increase in response to an increased use of the fuel—oxygenate methyl /-butyl ether (MTBE). 

However, there are several issues with widespread methanol usage. Methanol production from natural gas is relatively inefficient ( 67%), and this largely offsets the vehicular improvement in efficiency and carbon dioxide reduction (since gasoline can be made with "85% efficiency from oil). Additionally, the PEM fuel cell demands very pure methanol, which is difficult to deliver using existing oil pipelines and may require a new fuel distribution infrastructure. 

---