For example, the US Department of Defense has a major program in methanol-based fuel cells.
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It already has a plant producing methanol in China and has plans to produce both methanol and and glycol in another facility.
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The company, Air Fuel Syndication, then uses the carbon dioxide and hydrogen to produce methanol which in turn is passed through a gasoline fuel reactor, creating petrol.
Methanol is usually produced in huge quantities from natural gas.
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For example, a federal requirement that new cars sold in America be capable of using methanol and ethanol, as well as gasoline, would create markets for such alcohol-based fuels and competition that will drive down gas prices.
In addition, since they plan to start up the plant using a methanol catalyst they are not expected to produce qualifying renewable fuel in 2010 .
Conversion of natural gas to methanol, as widely practiced in the chemicals industry, could provide a cost-effective route to manufacturing an alternative, or supplement, to gasoline, while keeping CO2 emissions at roughly the same level.
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For example, work done at Princeton University in the US and published in 1994 to make the fuel additive methanol from CO2 has more recently been refined and spun into a company called Liquid Light that is aiming to do the same thing.
Miniaturized direct methanol fuel cells are different batteries in that they create power instead of simply storing it.
Nokia execs including Chief Executive Jorma Ollila indicated in the past that fuel cells were a promising area of development, and in 2004 the company demonstrated a handset powered by methanol, and said it could be available commercially by 2006.
The plan emphasizes practical steps applying existing technology to produce and make widely available, and useable, alternatives to traditional transportation fuels including: ethanol (in particular, from sources other than corn), methanol and electricity.
Fracking fluids are believed to contain, in addition to water, benzene, ethylbenzene, formaldehyde, methanol, naphthalene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, toluene, xylene, boric acid, hydrochloric acid, isopropanol, and diesel fuel.
Such fuels include natural gas, methanol (which can be produced from anything with carbon in it, including natural gas and coal) and ethanol (which can be generated from sources other than corn, particularly as cellulosic technologies come on stream).
District magistrate Narayan Swarup Nigam told AFP that methanol, sometimes used as a fuel, had been found in at least 20 victims.
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One frequent question deals with Compressed Natural Gas or Liquified Natural Gas vehicles (Natural Gas Vehicles or NGV) in comparison with tri-Flex Fuel vehicles ( Gasoline, Ethanol, Methanol) vehicles.
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Air Fuel Synthesis build on these methods by turning the methanol into something more like petrol, using processes well entrenched already in the petroleum industry.
We have the option right now to require that new automobiles sold in this country be capable of using alcohol-based fuels like ethanol, methanol or butanol instead of or together with gasoline.
Toshiba, which displayed methanol fuel cells for music players and other devices at a Japanese trade show in 2005, says it plans to start selling them next year.
Still others would include requiring every car sold in America to be a Flexible Fuel Vehicle, enabling them to run on ethanol, methanol, or gasoline (or a combination thereof), beginning at last the process of weaning this country from its oil addiction that so benefits our enemies in OPEC.
An FFV can use ethanol or methanol or gasoline (or some combination) thanks to a chip and some plastic fittings in the fuel system.
This methanol can now be added to standard diesel and gasoline, just as ethanol is, and used in standard vehicles.
But in the short term, researchers are working on reformers which produce hydrogen aboard vehicles by extracting the gas from methanol or other hydrocarbon fuels -- a process that can release pollutants, though at far lower levels than internal combustion engines, Roan said.
FFVs can be engineered to run on methanol and butanol, as well - alcohol-based fuels that, like ethanol, can be manufactured in quantity from abundant domestic sources.
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