THE BIOMETHANOL ECONOMY

My simple solution for the day is for the world to replace the gasoline internal combustion engine, the plug-in electric car and ethanol fuel with the biomethanol economy.  If you remember my admonition that the establishment will prevent you from making any changes that affect their profit, then you will be apt to say, forget it.  And you will be right.  However, miracles happen, so let me continue.

Methanex is the global leader in methanol.  It's a Canadian company with 19 methanol tankers. The CEO is Bruce Aitken.

The stock price was down to $6/share on 10March2009.  Today?  $33/share.  So, it is probably too late to buy, but, their future looks intriguing, especially in energy, and specifically as a supplier of liquid fuel.  Note the volume increase just these past few years:  

Click on the state symbol to the right and you will see that the average price of gasoline in the USA today is around $4/gallon.  Methanex quotes methanol today for $1.34/gallon.

The wild card in all this is China, which is the leading country for this pathway.  However, their methanol comes from the gasification of coal.  And they are just replacing gasoline in an internal combustion engine.  Mind you, methanol is the fuel of choice of those drag racers.  Methanex's methanol comes mostly from the steam reforming of natural gas.  In effect, you almost double the carbon dioxide into the atmosphere with the China method  compared to combusting gasoline.  Is there a cleaner and sustainable way?  Yes, the gasification and catalysis of biomass.

As you know, I have been touting methanol for more than a third of a century.  SIMPLE SOLUTIONS  for Planet Earth describes the biomethanol economy.  My first Huffington Post article on this biofuel was nearly four years ago, and I have posted half a dozen of them since then.  To summarize:

  1.  Methanol is cheaper to produce than ethanol.

  2.  A fuel cell car can go five times further than one powered by a lithium battery.

 3.  But hydrogen is too expensive to produce, plus there is no infrastructure, and, anyway, there is 140% more accessible hydrogen in one gallon of methanol than one gallon of liquid hydrogen

  4.  Methanol is the only biofuel capable of directly and efficiently being used by a fuel cell.

Toshiba already markets a direct methanol fuel cell for portable applications, but a DMFC for transport does not exist.  Why not?  GOOGLE this question, and you will get to THIS LINK.

If anyone from Methanex is reading this, you can dominate the world transport fuel economy by only accomplishing two things:

  1.  Find a cost-effective way to produce methanol from a sustainable feedstock.  Otherwise, you could well be faced with a stiff carbon tax someday.

  2.  Develop the direct methanol fuel cell for vehicles.  I'd be glad to show you how.

Of course, this is a free world, and anyone can get rich with this suggestion.  All you need to do is just follow my above suggestion, make billions, and send me 1% of your profits, which I can dedicate to global climate change remediation.  China can also qualify for this offer.  The BIOMETHANOL ECONOMY is the bridge to the 22nd century.

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Had to do this.  There is a Syracuse band called Methanol.  But, honestly, if you want to know everything about METHANOL, click on it.

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The Dow Jones Industrials continues to sink, down 46 to 12,125, with major world markets mixed.  Gold rose a buck to $1651/toz, while the WTI is at $107/barrel and Brent at $124/barrel.

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Tuning up for my global adventure next month, where my first stop will be Japan, I went to Marukai and purchased a soba set, kampachi sashimi, vegetable assortment and an ume musubi (my first one since my previous trip to that country), with a chilled Kirin beer and hot Junmai Sawanotsuru sake:

overlooking this sunset:

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