MY-Methanol

When comparing methanol with hydrogen, two peculiarities become apparent. In terms of weight, methanol has around six times less hydrogen-energy than pure hydrogen but twice as much in terms of volume. This is because hydrogen is one of the lightest substances.

• Methanol: ca. 22MJ/kg and ca. 5 kWh per litre (HHV)
• Hydrogen: ca. 130MJ/kg and ca. 2.7 kWh per litre (HHV - compressed @900 bar)

This means that it only takes half the tank volume to store liquid methanol with the same amount of hydrogen-energy as for compressed hydrogen (@900bar)!

Methanol is a clean-burning liquid that produces no smog-causing emissions — such as sulphur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter — and can improve air quality and related human health issues. Because of its molecule structure CH3OH - methanol contains only one carbon atom, one oxygen atom but four hydrogen atoms - burning pure methanol emits only carbon dioxide and water steam, which neither are toxic nor air polluting. 

And if you use renewable methanol, the emitted carbon dioxide is the same amount which was used for producing the renewable methanol - so it's CO2 neutral and fossil-free!

Methanol is poisonous alcohol and can cause death when mishandled. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how to handle methanol safely and effectively, as you handle with gasoline or diesel.

Methanol is a highly flammable liquid, because it's an alcohol, but it's not as flammable like gasoline or explodable like hydrogen.

Should methanol come into direct contact with the skin, wash the area with soap and water. Direct ingestion of more than 10ml can cause permanent body damage. When handling methanol it is best to avoid direct exposure as much as possible. If working where methanol vapors are present, proper ventilation is imperative for safety.

Methanol is like the "magic liquid", everybody is looking for. Nowadays it becomes a "real magic liquid", because of the production of fossil-free, renewable methanol - like MY-METHANOL.

Across the world, methanol is emerging as a clean, sustainable transportation fuel of the future. Methanol can be blended with gasoline in low-quantities and used in existing road vehicles, or it can be used in high-proportion blends such as M85-M100 in flex-fuel or dedicated methanol-fueled vehicles. Methanol fuel blends are used in vehicles around the world, particularly in China. With more than 100 million passenger vehicles, China is the world’s largest user of methanol for automotive fuel.

Methanol is also used as a laboratory solvent, can be converted to formaldehyde, to plastics, to plywood or paints. It can also be used as a future aviation fuel firing gas turbines.

The worldwide development of electromobility is being accelerated with methanol fuel cells such as RMFC (Reformed Methanol Fuel Cells) and DMFC (Direct Methanol Fuel Cells), which are more reliable and practical than pure hydrogen fuel cells. These new methanol fuel cells also use the hydrogen power that is liquid-bound in methanol, but have twice the energy per voulme than pure, compressed hydrogen @900bar.

If methanol is made from fossil energy like methane or coal, then methanol is also a fossil energy carrier that emits fossil CO2. But if methanol is produced with environmental CO2 and with solar-, wind-, geothermal or hydro-power, then we call it renewable, fossil-free methanol or in our case "MY-METHANOL".

There are no real downsizes to renewable methanol. The current existing methanol market is growing and will be one of the fastest-growing markets in the future, because of the wide applications, who will extend using renewable methanol as the future fossil-free fuel and liquid energy.

The global methanol market is estimated to reach USD 91.53 billion by 2026 growing at a CAGR of 9.8% during the forecast period, according to a new study published by Polaris Market Research.

Renewable methanol is still rare nowadays and the price per litre is too high. Big oil and energy companies are building new methanol production plants based on the hydrogen/syngas processes to make renewable methanol. But it will take some time until these clean methanol capacities will be available and lower the market prices.

We started the willpower energy® BioReactor project to make renewable methanol widely accessible by using a decentralized bio-catalytic methanol production approach. Make your clean fuel there, where it's used! Our goal is that with the willpower energy® technology it will be possible to produce fossil-free methanol in the future at a reasonable price below CHF 1 per litre.