Methanol vs. Natural Gas Vehicles: A Comparison of Resource Supply, Performance, Emissions, Fuel Storage, Safety, Costs, and Transitions. University of California, Davis

Format:

Conference/Event

Author/Creator:

Delucchi, Mark A., author.

Conference Name:

1988 SAE International Fall Fuels and Lubricants Meeting and Exhibition (1988-10-10 : Portland, Oregon, United States)

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Warrendale, PA SAE International 1988

Summary:

This paper is a comprehensive comparative analysis of methanol, compressed natural gas, and liquefied natural gas as automotive fuels. First, we examine natural gas, coal, and biomass feedstocks, and the "security" of foreign feedstocks. Next, vehicle performance and emissions are considered, followed by an analysis of vehicle refuelling and storage technology. Environmental impacts of fuel production and distribution are analyzed; followed by a review of health, flammability, transport, and end-use hazards. We perform a detailed cost analysis that combines fuel cost and vehicle cost into discounted life-cycle cost-per-mile. Finally, we discuss the feasibility and implications of transitions to methanol and natural gas from our current vehicular fuel system. We find that natural gas vehicles may offer slight economic and environmental advantages, but that a transition to natural gas fuel would be more difficult, at least in the U.S. Neither fuel is a suitable long-term replacement for petroleum

Notes:

Vendor supplied data

Publisher Number:

881656

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license