Methanol use in various applications is on the raise globally and there are several examples on how methanol is used in the transport sector today. The production is fairly efficient and cost effective and there are also several examples of where methanol as fuel is under advanced testing in various, sometimes novel, types of engines.
From the historical background can be discerned a lack of long term perspective with respect to (a) earlier and current motivation to “use/not to use” methanol as an alternative fuel, (b) experiences gained from earlier periods of methanol usage, and (c) why interest to use methanol as an automotive fuel has shifted through the past decades. Methanol as a renewable fuel – a knowledge synthesis is the title of a newly finished f3 project by Ingvar Landälv, Bio4Energy/LTU, that has had the objective of creating a knowledge synthesis with this long-term perspective in mind, and also to look forward and address methanol’s potential role as energy carrier/motor fuel in Sweden (and elsewhere).