Skip to Content

methanol


China turns to methanol for flex-fuel cars

Methanol is an unusual alcohol. For one thing, it can be used in fuel cells instead of hydrogen. It is also used by homebrewers to make biodiesel. Alternatively, it can be used in internal combustion engines instead of gasoline (see: drag racing). In China, methanol has just been approved by the ministry for standards for use as a motor vehicle fuel. Like ethanol in the U.S., China now permits the chemical to be added to pure gasoline so that it makes up to 85 percent of the mixture. The U.S. has E85, China has M85. It's possible to make ... Read more →

Nissan to deploy methanol fuel cell material handling equipment Sam Abuelsamid

Nissan's Smyrna, Tennessee assembly plant will soon be cutting its CO2 emissions and improving productivity. The plant is retrofitting 60 material handling tugs that are used to move parts around with ...

Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel to enter production? Jeremy Korzeniewski

Could the Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel enter production? According to a post on Lotus Enthusiast, that's an entirely real possibility due to interest from Youngman Auto, which is the British ...

Motor Trend's Top Ten Technologies have a decidedly green tint Jeremy Korzeniewski

Looking back on 2008, it seems that the biggest stories that shaped the automotive landscape had more to do with gas prices and economic conditions than the vehicles themselves. Regardless, there are ...

Lotus throws its weight behind methanol Noah Joseph

Click above for hi-res gallery of the Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel British sportscar-maker and engineering firm Lotus may be known for its lightweight vehicles, but in the industry it still packs a ...

Whence the pickup truck based on a G-Wiz? 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

At first we thought somebody out there was exercising their ninja photoshop skillz but then it occurred to us that those folks would probably not be busying themselves with the likes of the G-Wiz. No, this had to be the product of a mind so sick, so twisted, that it created the original Reva G-Wiz, ...

Geneva '08: Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel runs on gas, ethanol and methanol 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Click the Exige for a high-res gallery var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/autos/Gas_E85_or_Methanol_Lotus_Exige_270E_tri_fuel_sports_car'; Back in mid-2006, Lotus unveiled a flex-fuel E85-capable Exige 265E that was being used as a technology demonstrator. Lotus has used the 265E to learn about ...

Robert Zubrin talks about requiring all cars to be flex-fuel capable 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Robert Zubrin has new book on gaining petroleum independence by switching from imported oil to alcohol fuels. He wants Congress to require that all new cars and trucks built be flex-fuel capable. There's an interesting interview done by Glenn Reynolds and Helen Smith on their podcast. Zubrin ...

China investing in something worse than bad ethanol: methanol 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Here we're quite happy to report about progress on the so-called "Second Generation" biofuels, such as cellulosic ethanol, which yield cleaner results than "First Generation" ones like corn ethanol. However, there is also something that the French site MoteurNature calls "Zero Generation" biofuel: ...

EVS23: AutoblogGreen Q&A on Smart Fuel Cell's methanol fuel cells 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Say "fuel cell" to someone in the auto industry and I bet you dollars to donuts that they'll think you're talking about hydrogen. Well, I'll make the bet unless you're speaking to Dr. Jens Müller or Dr. Peter Podesser of Smart Fuel Cells. These two men were in Anaheim for EVS23 to showcase ...

TMO Renewables claims to have found the ethanol "silver bullet" 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

"We believe what we've found is not far from the silver bullet, and our demonstration plant will be about showing that. We have the organism people have dreamt of -- it eats nearly anything and it makes ethanol really quickly." - Hamish Curran TMO Renewables CEO The organism that Curran is speaking ...

Amyris Biotechnologies working to create synthetic biofuels 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

Ethanol, methanol and butanol all share a common thread. Besides all being alcohols which are used as fuels, some to a greater degree than others, they can also be manufactured via standard chemical reactions. None of them seem to offer the perfect replacement for petroleum based gasoline. Here is ...

Anthony J. Gerst from Planetsave.com gives his opinions on hemp's suitability as a fuel source 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

Should we be adding hemp to the growing list of crops for alternative fuels that are better than our current use of corn for ethanol? That is an idea proposed by Anthony J. Gerst over at Planetsave.com. Anthony surmises that hemp could produce 600 gallons of methanol per acre. Methanol, being an ...

Interview with Karl Jacob, the man behind the 1000 horsepower E85 Viper 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

Karl Jacob, the man behind the E85 Viper we featured the other day, was recently interviewed by AutoblogGreen. He said he hopes to clear up some misinformation on ethanol and share his experiences with our readers. So, without further ado, Karl Jacob: ABG: The first question on many minds is ...

How would you like to turn your trash into gas? 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

In America, we have trash, and lots of it. Remember in "Back to the Future", when Doc, played by Christopher Lloyd, grabbed garbage from a can, dropped it into the back of his time-machine and fueled its time circuitry with it? This is nothing like that. But, it is pretty cool if they can get it to ...

Yamaha to unveil hydrogen fuel-cell scooter at EVS-22 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

At last year's Tokyo Motor Show, Yamaha introduced a fuel cell scooter called the FC-me. It ran on a liquid methanol-water solution and its size and performance would have fit nicely in the 50cc gas-fueled class. This year, Yamaha is upping the ante with the FC-AQEL, a 125cc comparable two-wheel ...

Veloform offers methanol fuel cell "Bicy-Taxis" 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

Fuel Cell Works is reporting that Veloform has announced the release of a fuel cell-powered, three-wheeled bicycle called the City Cruiser II. You may recognize the familiar shape of the vehicles as Veloform is the maker of the Bicy-Taxis shown at New York's Ecofest a couple months ago. The City ...

Forget about Hydrogen: The Methanol Economy 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

George Olah, winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize in chemistry, discusses the Methanol Economy in an interview with the Technology Review. Methanol, just like Hydrogen, is not a source of energy like gasoline but an energy carrier. But Methanol can be pumped pretty much just like we pump gas now, and can ...

Popular Mechanics takes a hard look at alternative fuels 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

If you’re looking for a readable yet detailed look at the scientific data of green automobile technology, Popular Mechanics is the place to go today. Their cover story called “The Truth About Biofuels” in engaging and straightforward and highly recommended. The set-up for the ...

Biofuel number crunching 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

A roundup of alternative fuels is presented in Popular Mechanics’ May issue, with a summary of what each fuel is, the pro’s and con’s for the fuel, and the future outlook for each one of them. The alternatives for gasoline and diesel under consideration are ...


Featured Galleries

  • 2009 Rolls-Royce Phantom
  • Smart ED production
  • Tesla Roadster audio recording for video games
  • Production i-MiEVs in the UK
  • Hyundai 2.4L direct injected Theta II
  • Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL-Hybrid bus
  • Chevy Volt hits the streets in Royal Oak
  • 2010 Nissan LEAF
  • 2010 Mercedes-Benz ML450 hybrid
  • Renault Fluence ZE concept
  • Governor Schwarzenegger with the Zero S
  • Peugeot Concept HYbrid3 Evolution

Categories

Autoblog

Daily Finance

Download Squad

Engadget

Joystiq

Autoblog Spanish

Switched.com

FanHouse

Asylum