BIOMETHANOL AND THE DIRECT METHANOL FUEL CELL

Let me start with a photo of my water lilies today:

I repeat below a response I sent to a colleague who is interested in biomethanol, but will not mention any names.  The following is a good summary about trends in the development of biomethanol and the direct methanol fuel cell.

Dear XXX:

When I click on that site, it does not exist.  But if you are referring to

http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=2213

YYY was originally a tiny "collect waste oil from Maui restaurants" firm that has more recently expanded in scope.  Perhaps I'd better go talk to ZZZ to see if they wish to be part of the larger picture.  I met her once in their early days and thought what they were doing was nice, but very limited.  

That article I cited surely shows all the signs of promise.  In particular, I quote:

The EERC conducted an engineering and economic analysis for the project. The cost varied, depending on the ambitiousness of the plan to pay back the capital costs. “If you’re willing to have a 20-year payback and if you operate 24 hours per day, seven days per week for 85 percent of the year, the cost of the methanol would be about 79 cents per gallon,” Hurley says. “At the time we did the analysis, the spot price of methanol was $1.80 per gallon.” Alternatively, a methanol producer could sell the fuel at the spot price; with that kind of price difference, Hurley says a project could pay off the capital cost fairly quickly. 

Do you know what it costs to produce ethanol from biomass?  Let me quote from Oregon.gov:

The cost of producing ethanol varies with the cost of the feedstock used and the scale of production. Approximately 85 percent of ethanol production capacity in the United States relies on corn feedstock. The cost of producing ethanol from corn is estimated to be about $1.10 per gallon. Although there is currently no commercial production of ethanol from cellulosic feedstocks such as agricultural wastes, grasses and wood, the estimated production cost using these feedstocks is $1.15 to $1.43 per gallon.

Because a gallon of ethanol contains less energy than a gallon of gasoline, the production cost of ethanol must be multiplied by a factor of 1.5 to make an energy-cost comparison with gasoline. This means that if ethanol costs $1.10 per gallon to produce, then the effective cost per gallon to equal the energy contained in a gallon of gasoline is $1.65. In contrast, the current wholesale price of gasoline is about 90 cents per gallon.

What caught my attention was the wholesale price of gasoline at 90 cents/gal ($38/gallon).  This makes no sense at all, for what was meant, I'm sure, is the production cost of gasoline, as I know the wholesale price of gasoline since 2007 has usually been between $2 and $2.50/gallon, with that excursion to $3.51/gallon in July of 2008.  Here is a counter point of view from ethanol curmudgeon David Pimental:

Most economic analyses of corn-to-ethanol production overlook the costs of environmental damages, which Pimentel says should add another 23 cents per gallon. "Corn production in the U.S. erodes soil about 12 times faster than the soil can be reformed, and irrigating corn mines groundwater 25 percent faster than the natural recharge rate of ground water. The environmental system in which corn is being produced is being rapidly degraded. Corn should not be considered a renewable resource for ethanol energy production, especially when human food is being converted into ethanol".

A few questions ring in my mind:

1.  If ethanol is so relatively cheap to produce, why that generous tax credit?

2.  It is finally sinking in to decision makers that, given biomass, it is more economically sensible to produce methanol than ethanol.

3.  If this is true, why doesn't the USDOE have a full court press to develop the direct methanol fuel cell for transport applications, as methanol is the only liquid that can be processed by a fuel cell without reformation, and a DMFC vehicle would take it 5 (FIVE) times further than one powered by a lithium battery system, the priority pathway of the current White House?  And, by the way, the Japanese own most of the useful lithium battery patents.  Even our Chevy Volt will use a South Korean battery, licensed from Japan.  While we're at this, contemplate that a gallon of methanol has 140% the hydrogen availability of a gallon of liquid hydrogen.  You know what a gallon of liquid sustainable hydrogen costs?  Surprisingly enough, "only" $3.38/gallon, but consider the energy balance.

Here I'm a step away from sending in final galley proof adjustments for my Book 3, am being overwhelmed by some sudden interest in the Blue Revolution, am on my second day of a quest to golf five days in a row this week, and still spending so much time on the biomethanol economy.  But you asked.

Aloha.

-

The Dow Jones Industrials eased up 20 to 10,060 after dropping down to 9938, at the end of the day 3.5% lower than at the start of the year, but 6% higher than a year ago.  World markets were mostly down, with the Japan Nikkei now at a 16 month low of 8845, and yen at a 15 month high (below 84 yen per U.S. dollar last night).  Yes, confusing, but high is low, and it's not worth explaining.  Gold is up $9/toz to $1240 and crude oil at $72.74/barrel.

-

There are now two hurricanes, Frank at 75 MPH steering away from Mexico and Danielle at 85 MPH still moving west, but destined to go north.  However, right behind is Tropical Storm Earl, expected to take a more southernly route, to become a hurricane around Saturday, and will probably strike land next week.

-