Is Methanol the Key to Energy Independence?

realclearenergy

excerpts:

• Yossie Hollander has a concise way of summarizing our dependence on foreign oil. “We get 36 percent of our energy from petroleum in this country and 20 percent from coal,” says the California entrepreneur turned philanthropist. “Yet we spend only $35 billion a year on the coal and $780 billion on oil products – most of it going into foreign pockets.”
• When the corn ethanol push began, natural gas was scarce and considered best suited for heating homes and a providing feedstock for the plastics and fertilizer industries. [ emphasis added, think ammonia]
• So what’s the problem? Well, unfortunately putting methanol into car engines is illegal.
• “Right now the auto companies could produce flex-fuel vehicles any time they want,” says Hollander. “Their answer is always that they’ve tried before and nobody wanted to buy them.”
• “You could sell methanol today at the octane equivalent of $2 per gallon,” says Hollander. “You wouldn’t need any subsidies. The market would handle everything.”

Comment:

This is a Bob Zubrin idea that I saw way back in 2008.  It makes sense, but it won't get done.  Too much corruption.  No way the subsidies can be ended for ethanol.

The fertilizer option would also work because you can burn ammonia in an internal combustion engine.  Also, ammonia can be electrolyzed which can produce hydrogen for fuel cells.

An additional idea:  recapture the carbon dioxide and run it through an algae farm.  Pyrolyze the algae, and create biochar.  Sequester the carbon by adding to soil.  You could repeat the process again and again until most of the carbon is extracted.

But would that be economical?  Probably not.  But the current system isn't either.

The one that makes the most sense economically is the least likely option that will be taken.  That's the whole point.