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 methanol fuel cell uses methanol and oxygen to generate power and is one of several technologies vying to replace lithium ion batteries that are commonplace today.
But concerns over how the methanol would be distributed--and whether methanol-powered phones would be allowed on airplanes--are now leading the company to put plans on hold for several years.
It has become the biggest supplier of liquefied natural gas to the United States, and the world's top exporter of methanol and ammonia.
Their idea is compelling: Reduce dramatically the use of oil in America's transportation sector by utilizing existing technologies massively and rapidly to ramp up the availability of alternative fuels (ethanol, methanol and electricity) and the vehicles that can use them.
It gobbles up gas as feedstock to make chemicals such as methanol and ammonia, a vital ingredient of fertiliser.
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It involves spraying a tiny (0.15x0.15mm) area of a fingerprint with an electrically charged mixture of methanol and water.
Hydrogen and methanol, at least, would require a whole new infrastructure.
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.
The former would involve affording consumers and businesses the opportunity to acquire vehicles powered not just by gasoline or diesel, but by alternative fuels like ethanol and methanol.
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.
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.
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.
If all goes to plan, come 2007, Japanese phone users will not use an electric charger to power their mobiles, they will instead carry a small bottle of methanol and with just a few squirts, they will have power for their phones.
The new approach described by Matthias Beller, from the University of Rostock, and colleagues uses a ruthenium-based catalyst, which can efficiently generate hydrogen from methanol at 65-95C and at ambient pressure.
Publicly traded Mechanical Technology has recruited Gillette to produce methanol fuel cartridges and has an agreement with Samsung Electronics to build prototypes.
Publicly traded Mechanical Technology (nasdaq: MKTY - news - people ) has recruited Gillette to produce methanol fuel cartridges and has an agreement with Samsung Electronics to build prototypes.
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.
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.
During phase two of their project, currently slated for mid- 2012, Range plans to expand production at the Soperton plant and transition from a methanol to a mixed alcohol catalyst.
Some precautions should be easy to implement, like requiring methanol to be sold coloured and scented so that it can be easily recognised.
The authors believe their system could combine the advantages of methanol as a hydrogen carrier and of proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells for efficient energy production.
China and Europe are already blending methanol into car fuels.
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Revenue and Customs officers seized nearly 4, 000 litres of illicit fuel, 750 litres of methanol, 200 litres of kerosene, pumps, equipment and business records.
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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.
The power output is small, orders of magnitude lower than from hydrogen or methanol fuel cells, but the supply and handling of these flammable fuels is avoided.
Methanol contains 12.6% hydrogen and is a liquid at ambient temperature, enabling it to be used as a means of temporarily "storing" hydrogen until it is needed.
This methanol can now be added to standard diesel and gasoline, just as ethanol is, and used in standard vehicles.
Current methods used to release the gas from methanol require high temperatures (above 200C) and high pressures, which limits the potential applications.
Health risks after drinking methanol include kidney failure, blindness, seizures and death.
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