Life cycle analysis (LCA) of low emission methanol and di-methyl ether (DME) derived from natural gas

This paper presents an analysis of different pathways for synthesising methanol and dimethyl ether (DME) from natural gas. This work seeks to determine the conditions under which methanol and DME might simultaneously have lower lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions and lower price than gasoline and diesel. Lower lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions are found to be possible if the energy used to synthesise these fuels is from low emission sources. Both methanol and DME synthesis should also be economically competitive with these incumbent transport fuels given current clean energy prices, provided that the natural gas price is approximately at current US levels and gasoline and diesel prices are at least 0.6$US/l. This suggests that methanol and DME can be scalable, economic and environmentally preferable alternatives to gasoline and diesel, particularly in the United States.