SGS INSPIRE attended the Methanol Automotive and Fuel Application Conference in Chongqing, October 11-13, 2019. The conference mainly focused on the development of methanol vehicles and fuels in China. During the conference, the latest developments in methanol fuel vehicles were discussed.
According to Guangyuan He, former Minister of Machinery Industry, currently the use of methanol blends as automotive fuel is limited to only Hebei, and the use of pure fuel methanol (M100) in vehicles is only possible in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Guizhou and Gansu. The government would like extend methanol applications to other sectors including non-road mobile mechanical engines, diesel trucks, diesel locomotives and bi-fuel (diesel / methanol) ships. At present, methanol is being used as fuel in vehicles of the government departments, the catering industry, civil stoves, heating boilers, etc. in many cities including Beijing. In some areas, methanol is also used as fuel in construction equipment, firing kilns, tobacco baking kilns, glass firing kilns, vegetable greenhouse heating, etc.
Draft standards related to methanol vehicles
In March 2019, eight ministries and commissions, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, jointly issued the guiding opinion on the promotion and application of methanol vehicles in some regions, officially pushing methanol vehicles and methanol fuels (blends or pure) to the automotive industry and the fuel market.
To support this decision, the National Automobile Standardization Technical Committee has been working on a research project of energy conservation and green standardization in the automobile industry, from 2018 to 2020. Under the project, there are five draft standards related to methanol vehicles issued by the Energy Conservation Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology:
✓Key highlights of the draft standard on the technical conditions for methanol fuel engines are the following:
✓This standard defines the methanol fuel engine, methanol supply device, oil/methanol consumption ratio. It also specifies the general requirements of methanol fuel engines, and focuses on the requirements of corrosion resistance, emissions, and safety and test methods
✓Appendix A of this draft standard gives the main specifications and parameters of the methanol fuel engine to be followed by the engine manufacturers.
Key highlights of the draft standard on the technical conditions for diesel/methanol dual fuel engines are the following:
✓This standard clarifies the technical requirements of the methanol supply system and its installation in the duel fuel engines, the power, fuel economy, noise and other indicators of the duel fuel engine. The emission limits of unconventional methanol and formaldehyde are given in the emission requirements
✓The standard also specifies the performance, reliability, test cycle and test method of measuring conventional and unconventional pollutants including methanol and formaldehyde of this duel fuel engine
✓Key highlights of the draft standard on the technical condition for methanol fuel vehicles:
✓This standard defines the terms “methanol fuel vehicle” and “methanol vehicle special device”
✓The standard specifies:
✓The parts in contact with methanol fuel or its combustion products shall be treated with anti-corrosion treatment and pass the reliability verification
✓The volume of auxiliary fuel tanks
✓The rating plate of vehicles and special identification of methanol fuel vehicles
✓The emission requirements and test methods of methanol fuels vehicles, including the conventional pollutants meeting the China VI emission standards
✓The emission requirements of unconventional pollutants including formaldehyde and unburned methanol shall be implemented in accordance with the guidance issued by the eight ministries and commissions before the corresponding emission standards are issued
✓The test methods for alcohol and corrosion resistance of methanol special equipment
✓The test methods for sealing of the fuel supply system
✓Key highlights of the draft standard on methanol automotive engine lubricating oil are the following:
✓The standard reflects the deterioration mechanism of lubricating oil caused by methanol which affects the engine performance
✓The standard sets limits for each property of lubricating oil to avoid the methanol effects on lubricating oil
✓Key highlights of the draft standard on the technical conditions for methanol vehicle fuel system are the following:
✓The standard specifies:
✓The composition of methanol vehicle fuel systems, including methanol tank assembly, fuel delivery pipeline, filter, methanol pump, methanol rail, methanol injector, fixed device and other components
✓Requirements for methanol corrosion resistance and swelling performance of parts in contact with methanol. Rubber parts shall meet GB/T 1690, plastic parts shall meet GB/T 11547 and metal parts shall meet GB/T 4334
✓Requirements and test methods for all parts of a methanol fuel system
✓Specific requirements of the methanol tank assembly:
✓Shall be equipped with fuel evaporation and an exhaust interface
✓All parts shall be able to pass the M100 methanol immersion test
✓The methanol delivery pipe and other fuel pipes shall have obvious appearance distinctions or identification
✓The distance between the methanol delivery pipe and the heat source shall be greater than 200 mm
✓The insufficient distance shall be equipped with a heat insulation device
✓Specific requirements of the methanol fuel system tests:
✓Methanol immersion resistance test of parts
✓High temperature resistance test of the methanol delivery pipe
✓M100 methanol ozone performance test
✓Methanol penetration resistance test of the methanol delivery pipe
New Energy Vehicles (NEV)
Konghui Guo, an automotive design research expert, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, highlighted major challenges in the development of new energy vehicles in China:
✓Increase in battery capacity and equipment will increase vehicle load
✓The charging speed and quantity will influence the safety of electric vehicles (EVs) in a way that more charging needs and quicker charging time will reduce the vehicles’ safety
✓Higher battery capacity will result in more time needed to recharge and a higher cost in the charging network
✓High price of battery
✓Lithium battery recycling problems are also becoming more serious, and used batteries are beginning to flood
✓Under the long term policy, the amount of government subsidies is directly proportional to the number of batteries, which will encourage enterprises to use more batteries as much as possible. This is not conducive to benign development
Guo also suggested to diversify the development of new energy vehicles and allow the following:
✓Coexistence of pure electric drive hybrids and fuel cell drive
✓The performance index of new energy vehicles should not be set by the government’s mandatory regulations; instead it should be developed by the industry according to the market needs and its evolvement
✓Reduce the performance index appropriately to reduce the battery consumption and improve the safety of EVs
✓If necessary, the range extender fueled by methanol shall be used
✓The battery type to be selected by the market on the premise of ensuring safety
Ke Liu from the Institute of Clean Energy of China Southern University of Science and Technology, Foreign Academician of the Australian National Academy of Engineering presented “Methanol Economy and Hydrogen Energy,” and highlighted the disadvantages of the current EVs and hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles:
✓Disadvantages of current EVs, according to Ke Liu:
✓Scrap volume of electric cars in China will reach 17,000 by 2020. It will then surge to 439,000 by 2023
✓After five years of use, EVs will enter the period of high accident incidence
✓Possibility of heavy metal pollution in water and soil due to the battery of the EVs
✓Disadvantages of hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles, according to Ke Liu:
✓The bottleneck of safety and reliability identification technology for high-pressure hydrogen storage vessels
✓High investment cost to build hydrogen refueling stations
✓The electrodes of hydrogen fuel cells are made of platinum, which is expensive and has few reserves. Hence, it is not suitable for large scale exploitation and application
✓Many technical bottlenecks to be solved including low temperature operation performance, battery life, driving reliability and stability
He also highlighted the challenges of developing hydrogen fuel:
✓Development challenges of hydrogen fuel:
✓High cost of hydrogen storage and transportation due to low energy density
✓Special materials are required for the storage tank and pipeline to prevent hydrogen erosion and penetration
✓Large area is needed to build hydrogen refueling stations. There should be no residential areas around the stations for safety reasons
✓Advantages of methanol fuel, according to Ke Liu:
✓Methanol is the best raw material for hydrogen production due to its low cost and reliable source
✓Low transportation cost and long storage time in tanks
✓Can use the existing gasoline and diesel infrastructure
✓Supported by the state government’s policy as the main direction for clean energy
In addition, Liu shared the advantages of an onboard alcohol-hydrogen system which is based on hydrogen-powered fuel cell technology but uses methanol as the raw material to produce hydrogen. Under this system, the small scale methanol water hydrogen production equipment is highly integrated with the fuel cell and the hydrogen that is produced will be used immediately to generate power. Thus, this system eliminates the bottleneck of hydrogen energy commercialization.
Methanol from renewable sources
Understanding the need to produce methanol from renewable sources for sustainability reasons, Can Li from the Chinese Academy of Sciences explained the synthesis of methanol by water splitting and artificial photosynthesis.
Can Li introduced the advantage of synthetic methanol using solar energy in his presentation “Synthesis of Methanol from Renewable Energy”.
According to Li, the synthesis of methanol (CH3OH) from renewable energy helps solve the hydrogen manufacturing, storage and transportation issues, and adds to the technologies of hydrogen fuel cell.
Advantages of using solar energy to synthesize renewable energy (methanol):
✓Solves the intermittent problem of renewable energy (grid stability)
✓Solves the randomness of energy use
✓Methanol synthesis is a process of chemical energy storage, which can collect and store the scattered solar energy for a long time, and adapt to various market demands (liquid fuel or hydrogen carrier molecule)
✓Solves the problem of clean energy from the carbon footprint
✓Solves the problem of the random change of renewable energy on the supply side and market side
Advantages of establishing a hydrogenation station other than a traditional hydrogen station:
✓Solves the safety problems of a hydrogen station: safety problems of hydrogen storage and transportation
✓Hydrogen source is from renewable energy
✓Reduces carbon dioxide emissions and achieves zero carbon emissions through internal circulation
✓It can be extended to other chemical hydrogen storage routes (e.g. toluene, ammonia)
✓It can coexist with gas stations and methanol stations
✓It is suitable for current gas stations
Methanol can be produced from a wide range of raw materials, such as coal, coke oven gas, natural gas, biomass, and greenhouse gas - carbon dioxide (CO2). Using methanol as fuel can effectively reduce the dependence on oil, thus easing China's energy import dependence.
At present, China has independent intellectual property rights in the production technology, production equipment and application technology of methanol fuel.
According to Can Li, from the aspects of raw materials, technology and environmental protection, using methanol as fuel is a choice in line with China's current conditions. However, due to the relative lag of rules and regulations related to methanol fuel, especially the lack of relevant technical standards for methanol fuel and methanol vehicles, manufacturers have doubts about the application of methanol fuel. If the government can establish a clear management method of methanol fuel and bring it into the national energy system and new energy vehicle management system, the adoption speed of methanol fuel in China could greatly increase.