Methanol fuel human toxicity

Methanol is used as a starting material for the synthesis of acetic acid and for many types of adhesives, fibers, and plastics. It is also used (and such use may increase) as a motor fuel. Methanol is highly toxic to humans and can lead to blindness and death if ingested. 

The chief issues facing fuel methanol in the field of safety involve fire properties and human toxicity, each of which are prime concerns when the general public is ejqtosed to fuel handling. Fortunately, a eonsiderable amount of work has been performed on both topics, with the broad eonelusion that methanol is safer than gasoline but less safe than diesel... 

A disadvantage of the widespread use of methanol is its high toxicity to humans and the environment. Methanol s high solubility in water raises concerns that well-water contamination could arise from the widespread use of methanol as an automotive fuel. In general, CO2-releasing fuels address the principle of an emission-free fuel. In the best case, the emitted CO2 is reused for methanol production, for example by plants. There are other carbon hydrides, which can be used as on-board reversible hydrogen storage materials. 

The use of methanol offers the best results in the trans-esterification of oils and fats. Compared with other alcohols, methanol requires shorter reaction times and smaller catalyst amounts and alcohol/oil molar ratios [10,12,15,16,51,52]. These advantages lead to reduced consumption of steam, heat, water, and electricity, and use of smaller processing equipment to produce the same amount of biodiesel. Biodiesel applications continue to expand. Thus, in addition to its use as fuel, biodiesel has been employed in the synthesis of resins, polymers, emulsifiers, and lubricants [53-64]. Concerning the range of applications, new biodiesel production processes should be considered as alternatives to the production based on methanol. Currently, methanol is primarily produced from fossil matter. Due to its high toxicity, methanol may cause cancer and blindness in humans, if they are overexposed to it. Methanol traces are not desired in food and other products for human consumption [15]. In contrast, ethanol emerges as an excellent alternative to methanol as it is mainly produced from biomass, is easily metabolized by humans, and generates stable fatty acid esters. Additionally, fatty acid ester production with ethanol requires shorter reaction times and smaller amounts of alcohol and catalyst compared to the other alcohols, except methanol, used in transesterification processes [11,15,16]. 

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