Methanol Verses Ethenol
The race is on to find a suitable alternative fuel that can run our transport system. In the face of energy crisis, we are clinging to any alternative that comes our way. But it is important to find that one best fuel that can efficiently run our vehicles and is also cost effective. |
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Two such fuels, belonging to the same class of compounds are methanol and ethanol. Methanol is the simplest alcohol. It is now being studied intensively to be used as a biofuel. Ethanol is the second in the list of alcohol compounds and is simply referred to as alcohol. It is mainly used for consumption purposes. Irrespective of their individual properties, both methanol and ethanol are being suggested as the fuels of future. But we also need to find out which would make a better fuel. In order to do so let’s look at two properties of both that give one edge over the other.
- Methanol can be made from distillation of wood. It also gets it name ‘wood alcohol’ for the same reason. But it is mainly produced from carbon monoxide and hydrogen. It can also be derived from some natural gas and petroleum products. For this reason, methanol is not regarded a ‘green’ fuel. Ethanol on the other hand uses the process of fermentation. It does jot require use of fossil fuels. This gives it an upper hand over methanol. But for ethanol fuel to succeed, it would have to be made from non-food plants.
- Another advantage of ethanol is that it can be produced by using wood in a similar fashion to methanol. However, to make ethanol enzymes are used to break down the wood/plant cellulose. The resultant is then fermented to get ethanol. The procedure for producing methanol involves burning the wood. This isn’t a very efficient process and causes a lot of dirt and waste. Hence, even if ethanol is made from wood, it does not pollute.
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Methanol is fast gaining popularity as an alternative fuel. However, another product obtained from transesterification of methanol, methyl esters are also increasingly being preferred to produce biodiesel. These esters are commonly called FAME or fatty acid ethyl esters. 
