ATE308

Case Study
on
Methanol

Name: Md Rahman
Roll No: B31
Section: M1991
Registration No. 12002012
Introduction

• The colorless, volatile liquid CH3-OH, also

referred to as wood alcohol, is a colorless liquid.
• When ignited, vapors are slightly heavier than air
and may explode
• It can be used in combination with gasoline or
independently as a fuel for internal combustion
engines and other engines.
Thermophysical Properties
Pressure Theta Diagram
Production

• Generally, this fuel is produced by steam-reforming

natural gas to produce synthesis gas.
• When this synthesis gas is fed into a reactor with a
catalyst, methanol and water are produced.
• Several feedstocks can be used to produce methanol,
but natural gas is currently the most cost-effective.
Sources of Origin

• Methanol can be produced from natural gas, coal,

biomass, oil shale, and tar sand, and it is also known as
wood alcohol.
• Any resource that can be converted into synthesis gas
can be used to make methanol.
• In addition to biomass, agricultural waste and timber
waste, solid municipal waste can be gasified to produce
synthetic gas.
Impact of bending in Gasoline/Diesel
fuel quality
• Methanol has a high blending vapor pressure. Even
though neat methanol has a low vapor pressure (32 kPa
at 37.8 °C), adding methanol to gasoline results in a
higher vapor pressure..
• When blended with gasoline, methanol is more likely to
phase separate than ethanol.
How will the fuel help in achieving BSVI
norms?
• In contrast to gasoline or diesel, pure methanol
combustion produces no nitrogen oxides (NOx), no
sulphur oxides (SOx), and very low particulate matter
(PM) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
• In comparison with regular petroleum fuel, methanol and
petroleum fuel will emit fewer pollutants.
• The use of methanol-based fuel will therefore assist in
the achievement of BSVI standards.
Performance Characteristics

• The following figures summarizes the engine

performance:
• Since methanol vaporizes at a high temperature, the
intake air is cooled, allowing a greater amount of fuel to
be burned.
• By increasing the compression ratio of engines, smaller,
more efficient, high-performance engines can be
designed.
• If methanol's low energy content is not compensated for
by larger tanks or highly efficient engines, the vehicle's
driving range will be reduced.
• Methanol is a better fuel at conserving heat inside an
engine. With gasoline, more of that heat is wasted.
Methanol absorbs so much heat that an intercooler often
is not even needed which makes it an effective fuel in
forced induction applications like supercharging and
turbocharging.
• Low volumetric energy content of methanol compared
with that of gasoline, diesel or ethanol reduce the driving
range of the vehicle, if not compensated with larger
tanks or high efficiency engines.
Emission Characteristics
• The CO emission with methanol is lower than that of
gasoline at fuel rich conditions but almost about the
same at lean conditions.
• NO emissions with methanol are nearly the same as that
of gasoline at fuel rich conditions but are as much as a
factor of five lower at fuel lean conditions.
• Methanol can be treated as a partially oxidized
hydrocarbon when they are added to the blended fuel.
• Therefore, HC emissions decrease to some extent as
ethanol/methanol added to gasoline increase.
• The low methanol and high methanol content blends
reduce the cylinder temperature as the heat of
vaporization of methanol is higher when compared to
gasoline.
• The lower temperature causes misfire and/or partial burn
in the regions near the combustion chamber wall.
• Therefore, HC emissions increase, and engine power
can slightly decrease. This behavior has been reported
by other investigators on various types of engines and
conditions
References
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/physics-and-
astronomy/thermophysical-properties
• http://www.ucc.ie/academic/
• http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/
• https://www.iea-
amf.org/content/fuel_information/methanol
• https://eibip.eu/publication/methanol-fuel/
• https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/methanol-methyl-
alcohol-properties-CH3OH-d_2031.html#phases
• http://www.methanol.org/
• https://learnmech.com/fuel-specifications-diese/
• https://www.fuelfreedom.org/
• https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/emerging_methanol.html