FILLING TANKS WITH METHANOL?

It's no secret that traditional fossil fuels run out, so now their production is mainly regulated by quotas or unofficial limits. It is also no secret that most conflicts and wars today have their origin in "fuel"- there is a fierce struggle between countries over the fuel left in the depths of the planet. The paradox is that most people are well aware that in using these sources of energy they cause irreparable harm to the ecology of the planet, which ultimately affects the health of all its inhabitants.

All these factors, coupled with the growing need for additional sources of energy, have been forcing those in power, scientists, economists and environmentalists around the world for more than a dozen years to rack their brains in search of new energy sources. And if until recently unsafe hydrogen was considered the main "substitute" and became, by the way, the reason for new large-scale conflicts, now people are more inclined to peaceful, environmentally friendly and remarkably efficient methanol.

Versatility and ecology, and the promising future of this substance formed the basis for the establishment of a methanol plant in Azerbaijan.

World famous

Methanol, also known as wood alcohol, is a colourless liquid with a smell reminiscent of ethyl alcohol, but weaker. In fact, methanol is soluble and biodegradable alcohol, which occurs naturally.

The most interesting thing about methanol is its versatility. It can be used both in classical internal combustion engines and in special fuel cells to generate electricity. It can ensure a smooth transition to ecological use of energy. In addition, methanol is used in the production of many different products such as paints, adhesives, aerosols, dyes, CD- and DVD-drives, etc.

Methanol also burns cleaner than other sources of energy and, therefore, it is increasingly used in the transport sector as an alternative fuel. For example, China and the US have already developed types of fuel, part of which is methanol. This fuel causes less harm to the environment and is more environmentally friendly than conventional petrol and diesel. Many scientists consider methanol an important part of the energy of the future and a potential replacement for petrol.

For example, the director of the website Green Building Elements and founder of Green Streets Media Train, Glenn Meyers, says in his article that methanol, which will power racing cars in the Indianapolis 500 rally, should be placed at the top of the list of alternatives. "As the most basic alcohol, methanol is the preferred choice as transport fuel due to efficient combustion, easy distribution and wide availability around the world. Methanol is used in the transport sector in the following ways: directly as fuel or blended with petrol; after conversion into dimethyl ether (DME), it can be used as a substitute for diesel fuel, or be part of the process of biodiesel production," he said.

It should be added that methanol is considered an alternative fuel under the 1992 US law on energy policy. And since 1965, it has been used in the US as a fuel (M100 or M85) for certain vehicles (racing cars, etc.). Flex-fuel vehicles (FFV) - cars that can run on either conventional petrol, M85, or on any combination of these two fuels - were developed by Ford Motors in 1978.

It is in the US, where a Methanol Institute has been created and is successfully operating, that diversified research to expand the use of methanol is under way. At the same time, one of the fastest growing countries in the world - China - has also begun testing cars with methanol fuel, allocating a lot of money for this purpose annually.

Methanol, in addition, plays an important role as a carrier of hydrogen in fuel cell technology in non-stationary and independent power generation. Turbines operating on methanol fuel also generate energy for the grid, which is used in some areas.

Today, the world's leading technology companies such as Casio, Panasonic, Toshiba and Sony have already started to manufacture fuel cells and batteries for cellular phones and laptops running on methanol.

Economical

As for the raw materials for the production of methanol, we should note that although a variety of materials are suitable for this purpose, today's economy still prefers to produce it from natural gas. Methanol is manufactured by steam reforming of natural gas, creating a synthesis gas, which is subsequently fed into the reactor with a catalyst. As a result of this process, methanol and water vapour are obtained.

The economic advantage of methanol is obvious: with today's low prices for natural gas and high oil prices, methanol could help reduce consumer spending at fuel stations. On the world market, the current price of methanol produced from natural gas is $1.13 per gallon without subsidies. Methanol yields per gallon about half the energy generated by petrol. Therefore, a trip for the same distance will require twice as much methanol. But despite this, it is cheaper than petrol. According to calculations by the Methanol Institute, today the cost of this type of fuel required to travel a distance at which a gallon of petrol is consumed would amount to about $3, including taxes and surcharges for distribution and retail sale, which is well below the current average public spending on petrol.

If you change the economics of natural gas, flex-fuel vehicles can still run on methanol obtained from coal, biomass, and possibly carbon dioxide recirculation, if this technology proves to be cost effective.

Environmentally friendly

Along with the above qualities, the undoubted advantage of methanol is its environmental friendliness. In this regard, we should note the results of a study by Malcolm Pirnie, a consulting company in the field of environmental protection. The study is entitled "Evaluation of the fate and transport of methanol in the environment". It considered the impact on the environment of the release of methanol according to various scenarios. The report concludes, "if methanol is spilt on soil, groundwater and surface water, it will biologically degrade rapidly in both aerobic and anaerobic conditions".

Based on this study, the scientific and engineering consulting company Exponent investigated specific use of methanol in fracturing fluids obtained in the process of recovering natural gas. This work also showed that methanol rapidly degrades biologically and, in these situations, it will not adversely affect human health and the environment.

There are also innovative approaches to reduce the greenhouse gas effect as a result of global production and distribution of methanol. As a result of the effective modernization over the past decade, factories for the production of methanol learned to significantly reduce emissions of carbon dioxide into the environment - up to 40 per cent.

Finally, as mentioned above, methanol is fully soluble in water and serves as a food source for a number of different bacteria. Therefore, it is often used in various industries such as wastewater treatment plants, helping to remove nitrogen from wastewater, or as an antifreeze and corrosion inhibitor in oil and gas fields.

Required in Azerbaijan

All of these useful and important properties of methanol were the inspiration for the opening of a plant for its production in Azerbaijan, especially as the raw material is natural gas, whose volume of production in our country is growing every year. In fact, AzMeCo's Azerbaijani methanol plant will be the first plant that uses natural gas as the raw material. However, the uniqueness of the project does not end there - the plant, which is being constructed in Qaradag district of Baku, will have a threefold security system and is designed taking into account seismic resistance up to 9 points. And when there are signs of danger, work will be suspended automatically.

According to the chairman of the company's board of directors, Nizami Piriyev, by the end of 2012 the plant can begin production and achieve a production capacity of 560 tonnes by July-August 2013. And in December of next year, the capacity of the plant will be increased to 720,000 tonnes, which will be achieved by returning to processing the carbon dioxide (CO2) released into the atmosphere during primary production. The project cost is estimated at $380 million.

In the first phase, it is planned to sell 90 per cent of production on the external and 10 per cent on the domestic market. But with the future launch of new production sites, where methanol is used as the raw material, this ratio will, of course, change. "We hope that methanol will be widely used in Azerbaijan as an alternative source of energy, and its properties will be used for additives to petrol, etc.," Piriyev said.