72
Journal of Technology Innovations in Renewable Energy, 2012, 1, 72-79
Methanol as a Main Fuel to Replace Gasoline Without Global
Warming
John O’M. Bockris*
Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania,
th
10515 S.W. 55 Place, Haile Plantation, Gainesville, Florida, 32608, USA
O
Abstract: The world temperature will increase by approximately 8 C by 2100. This would bring the temperature in parts
of the Middle East to values causing heat stroke and death. Methanol made from pure H2 and CO2 removed from the
atmosphere would cause no global warming and could be made from inexhaustible compounds on the surface of the
earth. Cheaper ways of making this fuel may be available.
Keywords: Tar sands, CO2 from the atmosphere, copper zinc catalyst, no warming.
1. INTRODUCTION
The oil imperium claims to have a solution to the
exhaustion of the normal oil supply. It wants to bring
forth what might be called the old guard, i.e.,
resuscitation from sources known to oil explorers,
particularly in Alberta, Canada, which contain sand
mixed with around 10 percent by weight of oil [1].
The world is using per day 0.1 billion barrels of
gasoline [2].
Bitumen sands are called crude bitumen, to
distinguish them from normal hydrocarbons. Total
natural bitumen reserves are estimated at 249.67
9
3
billion barrels (39.694 x 10 m ) globally, of which 176.8
9
3
billion barrels (28.11 x 10 m ), or 70.8 percent are in
Canada [3].
confirmed there will be global warming estimated in
fifteen to thirty year periods (See Table 1).
The time of the use of the tar sands will be limited
by an accompanying rise in temperature by about
2090, which use of oil from the tar sands will contribute.
The point of being too hot is something not yet faced.
As this temperature rises, dehydration and heat stroke
will become life threatening.
Once the voters feel the warming and realize that
continuing the use of oil products is making life too hot,
they will change their minds about continuing gasoline,
natural gas, or coal. Members of Congress will then
decide that it is passing a heavy tax on carbon or
risking the elected seats they hold. Europeans have
been paying about $8/gallon for gasoline for several
years. Some half of this goes to alleviate their debt.
Higher estimates of oil from tar sands have been
three trillion barrels. Based on the figures for the
world’s consumption of oil, and the highest estimate of
three trillion barrels of oil from tar sands, the tar sands
could last for several decades but global warming
would have made us abandon oil long before that.
In preparation for this, an advantageous substitute
for oil is proposed. Readers understand that this
suggestion would lead to an easy change to non-CO2
producing fuels - perhaps in a decade for the U.S.A.
I have confidence in the tar sands lower figure. The
higher figure represents a conclusion and it was
calculated by assuming that all the deposits found at
first would yield oil to the same extent as those which
have been carefully examined in Alberta.
I recommended a Methanol Economy in 1975 [5].
Methanol has advantages over hydrogen, being a
liquid.
The reliance on the tar sands needs more
investigation. Oil use will be limited in the future by the
rise in world temperature. A government audit [4]
th
*Address corresponding to this author at 10515 S.W. 55 Place, Haile
Plantation, Gainesville, Florida, 32608, USA; Tel: 352-335-3843; Fax: 352-3356925; E-mails: jbockris@cox.net and schulz77870@aol.com
E-ISSN: 1929-6002/12
2. HISTORY OF METHANOL AS A FUEL
In 1975, global warming had not yet taken the place
of smog formation [6]. In fact, the final association of
CO2 in the atmosphere and absorption of some of the
light reflected from the earth was found to be the main
cause of the anthropogenic contribution to global
warming according to a government committee [7].
This conclusion took into account the contribution
made by the sun itself, which undergoes a well-defined
eleven year cycle.
© 2012 Lifescience Global
Methanol as a Main Fuel to Replace Gasoline
Journal of Technology Innovations in Renewable Energy, 2012 Vol. 1, No. 2
73
Table 1: CO2 Concentration in the Atmosphere Causes the World Temperature to Increase. Using Various Factors, the
Table Represents an Estimate of Increase in Temperature as the CO2 Levels Accumulate. Source: The
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [4]
Peaking Year For CO2
Emissions
CO2 Concentrations At Stabilization
(2005 =379 ppm)
Global Average Temperature Increase Above Pre-Industrial At
Equilibrium, Using “Best Estimate” Climate Sensitivity
Year
ppm
2000 – 2015
350 – 400
2.0 – 2.4
2000 – 2020
400 – 440
2.4 – 2.8
2010 – 2030
440 – 485
2.8 – 3.2
2020 – 2060
485 – 570
3.2 – 4.0
2050 – 2080
570 – 660
4.0 – 4.9
2060 – 2090
660 – 790
4.9 – 6.1
˚
C
Figure 1: http://ossfoundation.us/projects/environment/global-warming/myths/images/temperature- NASA GISS 2008 Global
Land Ocean Temperature Index - Shows the global average temperature increase/rise since 1880-2008 Source:
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/Fig.A2.lrg.gifrecords/2008_global_land_ocean_temperature_index.gif/view
In 1980, I again compared methanol with hydrogen
and electricity [8]. Methanol seemed to be a substitute
for gasoline, because it could be produced in large
amounts through simple constituents available on the
earth’s surface, without exploration. Only a minor
modification would be needed to the IC engine but the
threat of smog pulled my 1980 recommendation of
what to develop over towards hydrogen [9]. A
Hydrogen Economy had been described in 1972 [10].
T. Nejat Veziroglu played a rising part in the
development of hydrogen. He started a journal devoted
to Hydrogen and organized biennial meetings
throughout the world. The International Journal of
Hydrogen Energy has continued to publish articles in
this field. Support for a Hydrogen Economy is high in
Germany where the Mercedes Company supports the
development partly because hydrogen is a fuel for cost
saving fuel cells [11].
3. THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF GEORGE OLAH AND
THE REBIRTH OF THE METHANOL ECONOMY
The year 2006 saw the publication of the first of two
editions of a book by George Olah, G.K. Surya Prakash
and Alain Goeppert, Beyond Oil and Gas: A Methanol
Economy [12]. Olah is a Nobel Laureate in organic
chemistry. He and his coauthors offer a challenge to
hydrogen.
Olah et al., encourage the prospects of methanol as
a fuel described in detail in their books. They stress the
advantages of methanol in driving IC engines. They
74
Journal of Technology Innovations in Renewable Energy, 2012 Vol. 1, No. 2
John O’M. Bockris
Figure 2: Likelihood (in percent) that future summer average temperatures will exceed the highest summer temperature
observed on record for 2090. For example, for places shown in red there is greater than a 90% chance that the summeraveraged temperature will exceed the highest temperature on record (1900–2006).
look towards the Hydrogen Economy as an alternative
but develop the counter case which stresses the
qualities of methanol, being a liquid.
Olah and methanol have turned out to be a strong
challenge to hydrogen. However, hydrogen by 2012
was being seen by several automotive manufacturers
because fuel cells give about twice times in efficiency
to drive an electric car than with batteries.
In 2009, Olah, Goeppert and Prakash, produced a
second edition of the same book but considerably
extended. Automotive manufacturers stress their
readiness with cars which could be run at half the cost
if the fuel for fuel cells (hydrogen) were available. Olah,
et al., pressed the fuel cell aspect of methanol and
developed research in a government laboratory
towards increasing the efficiency.
Writing in 2012, a change towards methanol which
might have been expected as a result of Olah’s books
(2009), had not yet been seen. The reluctance towards
a change to methanol was based not only on the
possible competition from Alberta’s tar sands, but also
on the fact that conversion to methanol might still
threaten global warming (see Figure 1).
In the meantime (2012), our present administration
intends to build an underground pipeline system, a
2,163 mile pipeline from Alberta to Texas to reach the
refineries available for a third stage in the refining of oil
from tar sands. It would be to transport diluted bitumen
(“dilbit”) from the Athabasca oil sands region to multiple
destinations in the United States, including refineries in
Illinois, the Cushing oil distribution hub in Oklahoma,
and proposed connections to refineries along the Gulf
Coast of Texas [13]. This move to work on this massive
project could have been avoided with the Olah books in
existence showing the advantages of easily produced
methanol.
4. METHANOL MADE FROM CO2 FROM THE
ATMOSPHERE = METHANOLAt
The advantages of methanol compared with oil and
gasoline is based on the ease of production and
handling. Gasoline has to be extracted and gradually
transformed from the tar sands. There is a dark side
behind the sands which was helped by British
Petroleum’s effort to bore down beneath the seabed in
the Gulf of Mexico giving rise to an accident with
massive repercussions on the availability of this part of
the world towards further exploration.
All this desperate seeking of oil helped going to the
tar sands in spite of the fact that there had been
available a solution in Olah’s book, 2006. Is this an
example of how ownership blinds the relevant groups
Methanol as a Main Fuel to Replace Gasoline
Journal of Technology Innovations in Renewable Energy, 2012 Vol. 1, No. 2
whilst a better alternative is explained in the Olah
presentations? From the point of view of the oil
imperium, they own the tar sands and the oil which
they hope to sell.
Methanol is a fuel which can be easily created by a
chemical synthesis using compounds cheaply available
in any country and further, if it is made in the correct
way, it can drive an IC engine with little modification. Its
use would end the threat of increasing temperatures to
drive us off the earth.
Next to consider, what form of methanol would it be
best to develop? It too, like hydrogen, can be made into
a zero-carbon fuel. Consider the following synthesis of
methanol:
CO2AT + 3H2 CuZn
CH3OHAt + H2O
(1)
To achieve this synthesis of methanol, one needs
CO2 available in a stream which would correspond to
the stream which can be made from an electrolyzer
producing hydrogen. The CO2 needed is only one-third
of the hydrogen in volumes of moles/unit time and at
three times greater rate at which the hydrogen could be
produced electrically (See Equation 1).
Let us tackle the problem of the CO2 stream first.It
is easy to look to the air itself for the origin of the CO2.
However, within the air the CO2 is present at 391ppm
as of 2012 (increasing percent per year) [14] and this
means that the CO2 is dilute in air so it’s expensive to
Figure 3: Making MethanolAt.
75
isolate. A better way to obtain the CO2 is to use
naturally available compounds which have already
trapped the carbon. Consider biomass (wood, trees,
plants) as the biggest source of carbon from the
atmosphere
which
enters
them
when
they
spontaneously synthesize in the presence of light and
thus CO2 in these compounds would indeed be
equivalent to CO2 from the atmosphere and obtaining it
from carbonaceous compounds is very simple: They
just need heating. Materials containing carbon from the
atmosphere are plentiful. They include not only
biomass, but also carbonaceous rubbish, farm sewage
and etc. We can then be sure that the CO2 that we use
to synthesize methanol has in it carbon which we have
to remove from the atmosphere. We are doing the
removal from the atmosphere of CO2 in the synthesis
of methanol. This allows the combination, taking CO2
and hydrogen, to form methanol according to Equation
1.
We have to obtain sufficient amounts of one of
these naturally available carbon containing compounds
and then deliver it to a refinery. There is no need for
chemical treatment. The refinery would process the
carbon-containing compound into a form such as
pellets or bricks, which can then be transported to a
fuel station to yield the desired CO2 on application of
heat there.
This is what is needed for the combination reaction
indicated in Equation (1) and occur underneath the
76
Journal of Technology Innovations in Renewable Energy, 2012 Vol. 1, No. 2
former gas stations with the hydrogen from the
electrolyzer originating in water.
How to get the hydrogen? Clearly, this comes from
the electrical synthesis so well-known and originated by
Michael Faraday in 1835 and it’s generally called
“electrolysis” [15]. One has to be careful here as to the
source of electricity by which one drives the
electrolyzer because it must not involve a fossil fuel,
otherwise we are back with carbon again.
The most attractive source of electricity is the socalled “enhanced geothermal” which a project in the
late state of development in Australia takes heat
directly in the earth and produces no carbon-containing
compounds on the way to its production of electricity
and steam. Professor Tester compiled a report at MIT
[16] in which he ventured to a committee-backed cost
of 3.9 cents/kWh for electricity from a geothermal
source.
Another means for producing electricity without CO2
is in countries where there is massive availability of
solar light. It’s difficult to ignore solar in spite of the
diurnal variation.
Wind energy might eventually be cheaper than
enhanced geothermal. There are wind maps of the
United States which show that Middle America is the
best place to have wind-operated turbines. The sea
offers wind and space.
Roberts [17] has been the leading engineer in
taking a helicopter equipped with four rotors up to
15,000 feet where wind has been measured at a
steady 75 mph. The problem however is that the rotors
which would withstand such winds are not yet with us.
If this route were pursued, the wind energy would have
to be stored in summer months when the wind drops
down.
What we can do with the methanol made in this
way, i.e., methanol from the atmosphere? When it is
used as a fuel, it is bound to reproduce the CO2 back
into the atmosphere from which it was removed in the
synthesis. This justifies the claim that this methanol is a
zero-carbon method. It does not increase global
warming. A change as soon as possible to limit the
buildup of CO2, which will develop due to the use of
gasoline.
A limit for people to work normally is a world
O
temperature of about 90 F, although many would say it
is less. I suggest we move quickly because it is liable
John O’M. Bockris
that we shall run into this temperature in summers
before the end of the century. (A world conversion will
be needed.)
4.1. Simplified Synthesis
Alternatively, it may be possible to develop
methanolAt without the use of electricity. Steam
reforming of natural gas is a very well-known reaction
(See Equation 2).
CH4 + 2H2O
CO2 + 4H2
(steam)
(2)
CO2 and H2 may be reacted together over a CuZn
catalyst which is particularly for that reaction to form
methanol (see Equation 3):
3H2 + CO2 CuZn
CH3OH + H2O
(3)
There is less experience with the steam reforming
reaction as the beginning reaction for the electrical
synthesis of methanol. It represents an escape from
the cost of electricity.
However, a further simplification can be considered.
In earlier work, I have pointed out that the use of CO2
can be done via biomass but also from carbonaceous
wastes, including, e.g., wastes obtained on
carbonaceous
substances
at
much
higher
temperatures than that used for the normal steam
reforming reaction. A final cost reduction might be
achieved by taking the product of a reaction of carbon
wastes and running what would contain an appropriate
ratio of CO2 and plenty of H2 over the methanol forming
catalyst CuZn.
The expected reaction from this mixture will of
course be less than the product of the original design
when pure CO2 and pure H2 are reacted together. It
might still be valuable because the earlier part of the
synthesis would be at much lower cost. (Cf., the
extraction of only 10 percent of oil from the sands
which are now being exploited because we have
exhausted our oil resources).
So the product substantially less than pure
methanol would now be treated to extract the pure
methanol from the mixture obtained by running the
product of an enhanced steam reforming reaction over
the CuZn catalyst.
The cost would be less than that obtained when the
pure versions of CO2 and H2 are reacted together.
Methanol as a Main Fuel to Replace Gasoline
Journal of Technology Innovations in Renewable Energy, 2012 Vol. 1, No. 2
However, the cost of this product might be of economic
interest.
4.1. Some Suggestions for Practical Arrangement
of a MethanolAt Economy
One of the criteria for choosing the next fuel is the
cost and time it will take to make the changeover from
oil to the new fuel (nuclear? hydrogen?). This could be
done with little fuss if we are going to methanol. In fact
during WWII people who got ahold of methanol,
particularly those in university laboratories, used to add
methanol to their gasoline which was in short supply by
its rationing.
Thus, one proposition is to make the synthesis in
the enhanced methanol production underneath the
energy stations (the former gas stations) and this has
to be tried out and developed economically. Pure
hydrogen is easily produced so long as one has a
carbon-free source of electricity and a CO2 stream to
use it as described above.
1.
Hydrogen: One could obtain hydrogen free from
CO2 if it were developed by electrolysis using
electricity made from sources from, e.g.,
enhanced geothermal, wind, solar, tidal, etc.
Water is easily available in all gas stations and
the synthesis of methanol would take place there
[18].
2.
CO2 in a stream: Biomass would be heated to
produce the CO2 stream. It needs organization to
collect the biomass, etc. There must intervene a
refinery to produce the biomass into pellets or
bricks, and then ship this to the energy stations
[19].
3.
Combination of CO2 and Hydrogen: The reaction
needs a catalyst [20] (Figure 3).
4.
No Global Warming: The production of hydrogen
and CO2 originated from the atmosphere will
make methanolAT. After use as a fuel, CO2 will
be put back into the atmosphere. However, this
is the CO2 we took away from the atmosphere to
make the methanolAT. No further accumulation of
CO2 will occur if only methanolAT is used. Thus,
methanolAT can be considered a zero-carbon
fuel. Its large-scale application would not
increase global warming, the major reason why
we need to stop using oil and natural gas [21].
77
4.2. Costs
Preliminary cost estimates of making methanol from
the atmosphere have been made. The first person to
make a zeroeth approximation calculation was Rey
Sidik of Case Western University. He came to $28/GJ
[22]. Corresponding to this, Professor Keith from the
University of Calgary stated that he was confident that
methanol could be made somewhere between $20$30/GJ [23].
An analysis of the details of the calculations shows
that it is much dependent on the cost of the electricity
because this affects the cost of hydrogen. We have to
wait for massive production from wind and see what
cost that will be. There is a company located in
Michigan [24] which has reduced the price of its wind
power electricity and was selling it in 2007 at three
cents/kWh. Of course Michigan is a relatively windy
place, but there are plenty of wind pathways north to
south in the center of the United States. As a
MethanolAT Economy with zero global warming is not
going to be active throughout the country for as little as
a decade, this would give us time to produce the price
of wind energy down to two cents/ kWh predicted by
the Wind Association of the USA [25].
Comparing these costs of methanolAT with the cost
of hydrogen needs broader consideration. Tapan Bose
and Pierre Malbrunot, authors of the French-Canadian
book Hydrogen [26] have made an extensive
examination of the costs associated in producing
hydrogen on a big scale. These authors have
concluded that the cost of hydrogen in practice is
$49/GJ (about double the cost of the raw product from
the electrolyzer).
The biggest expense lies in the fact that hydrogen is
a gas and would need to be converted to electricity,
whereas methanolAT is ready for use as a fuel without
any conversion. The two simplifications, avoiding the
use of electricity would produce methanol at less than
$20/GJ.
It is clear that the estimates show methanolAT at an
advantage for $10-$20/GJ less than hydrogen in
practical use.
5. CONCLUSIONS
Methanol from the atmosphere is a perfect fuel. It is
much like gasoline but can be made from natural
products freely available on the earth’s surface. Its
components cannot exhaust or pollute. Using it will no
78
Journal of Technology Innovations in Renewable Energy, 2012 Vol. 1, No. 2
longer contribute to an increase of the temperature of
the earth’s atmosphere (no increase in global
warming).
[9]
C. Hagen DL. Methanol: Its Synthesis, Use as a Fuel,
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Information gathering in 2012 for this paper was
carried out by Joanna Kern who also contributed some
clarification of the text. Ms. Kern is to be thanks for
improving the document. Mrs. Patricia Schulz edited
the final version, making clarifying changes to the text
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Methanol as a Main Fuel to Replace Gasoline
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keith@cmu.edu
[24]
There is a company located in Michigan which has reduced
the price of its wind power electricity to three cents per kWh.
[25]
As our MethanolAT Economy with zero global warming is not
going to be active for, say, a decade, would give us time to
get the price of wind to two cents/kWh which was a cost
produced by the Wind Association for the USA.
[26]
Bose T, Malbrunot P. Hydrogen, John Libby Euro Texts,
Esher, KT009 Q.Y., UK, 2006.
Table 1 – A. Ipcc ar4 syr, Core Writing Team; Pachauri RK,
Reisinger A, Eds., Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report,
Received on 04-12-2012
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6000/1929-6002.2012.01.02.1
79
Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fourth
Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change, IPCC, 2007; ISBN 92-9169-122-4,
http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/syr/en/contents
.html;
B. Ipcc ar4 wg1, Solomon S, Qin D, Manning M, Chen Z,
Marquis M, Averyt KB, Tignor M, Miller HL, Eds., Climate
Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis, Contribution of
Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge
University
Press
2007;
ISBN
978-0-521-88009-1,
http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/content
s.html (pb: 978-0-521-70596-7);
C. Ipcc ar4 wg2, Parry ML, Canziani OF, Palutikof JP, van
der Linden PJ, Hanson CE, Eds., Climate Change 2007:
Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, Contribution of
Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge
University
Press
2007;
ISBN
978-0-521-88010-7,
http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/content
s.html (pb: 978-0-521-70597-4);
D. Ipcc ar4 wg3, Metz B, Davidson OR, Bosch PR, Dave R,
Meyer LA, Eds. Climate Change 2007: Mitigation of Climate
Change, Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth
Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change, Cambridge University Press 2007; ISBN
978-0-521-88011-4,
http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_
data/ar4/wg3/en/contents.html (pb: 978-0-521-70598-1).
Accepted on 26-12-2012
Published on 31-12-2012