Methanol Article
Methanol is being increasingly used as a fuel for short sea journeys as an alternative to oil fuel. Being a form of biodegradable alcohol, it does not produce soot as it does not contain carbon bonds within its chemical structure. Methanol as a measure against traditional fuel oils contains approximately 50% of the energy of fuel oils.
Methanol is a high octane clean fuel which meets the required 2020 emission limits due to its low content of Sox and Nox meaning it has close to zero emissions during combustion. It remains liquid at ambient temperature which reduces the need for expensive refrigeration equipment as with LNG. It is highly corrosive and so specialist materials are required to pump it. In the future, a derivative of methanol – biomethanol produced by gasification and pyrolysis is likely to take over.
