Moving ahead from hydrogen to methanol economy: scope and challenges

Energy is the driver in the economic development of any country. However, most of the developing countries do not have sufficient oil reserves to cater to their energy requirement and depend upon oil producing countries. The perturbations in the crude oil price and adverse environmental impacts from fossil fuel usage are the biggest concern. Therefore, developing countries have started investing heavily in solar and wind power and are considering hydrogen as a future energy resource. However, to tap the potential of hydrogen as a fuel, an entirely new infrastructure will be needed for transporting, storing and dispensing it safely, which would be expensive. In the transportation sector, a liquid alternate to fossil fuels will be highly desirable as the existing infrastructure can be used with minor modifications. Among the possible liquid fuels, methanol is very promising. Methanol is a single carbon atom compound and can be produced from wide variety of sources such as natural gas, coal and biomass. The properties of methanol are conducive for use in gasoline engines since it has high octane number and flame speed. Other possible uses of methanol are: as a cooking fuel in rural areas and as a fuel for running the fuel cells. The present study reviews the limitations in the hydrogen economy and why moving toward methanol economy is more beneficial.

Automated summary

Energy is crucial for the economic development of any country, but developing countries often rely on imported oil. However, the fluctuating oil prices and environmental concerns associated with fossil fuels are major issues. To address these problems, developing countries have started investing in solar and wind power, and are exploring hydrogen and methanol as future energy resources.