The Development of Methanol Industry and Methanol Fuel in China

Abstract

In 2007, China firmly established itself as the driver of the global methanol industry. The country became the world's largest methanol producer and consumer. The development of the methanol industry and methanol fuel in China is reviewed in this article. China is rich in coal but is short on oil and natural gas; unfortunately, transportation development will need more and more oil to provide the fuel. Methanol is becoming a dominant alternative fuel. China is showing the rest of the world how cleaner transportation fuels can be made from coal.

*The content in this review was given as the plenary report in the 6th Annual Methanol Forum in Dubai (2008) and the XVII International Symposium on Alcohol Fuels in China (2008).

Keywords:

• China
• methanol fuel
• methanol industry

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Special Funds for Major State Basic Research Projects of P. R. China (No. 2005CB221201, 2005CB221202, 2005CB221204, 2005CB221207) and National Nature Science Fund of China (No. 90410018) and IRT0517 program from the Ministry of Education in China.

Notes

*The content in this review was given as the plenary report in the 6th Annual Methanol Forum in Dubai (2008) and the XVII International Symposium on Alcohol Fuels in China (2008).