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China's growing methanol economy and its implications for energy and the environment

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  • Yang, Chi-Jen
  • Jackson, Robert B.
Abstract
For more than a decade, Nobel laureate George Olah and coworkers have advocated the Methanol Economy – replacing petroleum-based fuels and chemicals with methanol and methanol-derivatives – as a path to sustainable development. A first step to this vision appears to be occurring in China. In the past five years, China has quickly built an industry of coal-based methanol and dimethyl ether (DME) that is competitive in price with petroleum-based fuels. Methanol fuels offer many advantages, including a high octane rating and cleaner-burning properties than gasoline. Methanol also has some disadvantages. A coal-based Methanol Economy could enhance water shortages in China, increase net carbon dioxide emissions, and add volatility to regional and global coal prices. China's rapidly expanding Methanol Economy provides an interesting experiment for what could happen elsewhere if methanol is widely adopted, as proposed by Olah and researchers before him.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang, Chi-Jen & Jackson, Robert B., 2012. "China's growing methanol economy and its implications for energy and the environment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 878-884.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:41:y:2012:i:c:p:878-884
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2011.11.037
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    5. Xiang, Dong & Xiang, Junjie & Sun, Zhe & Cao, Yan, 2017. "The integrated coke-oven gas and pulverized coke gasification for methanol production with highly efficient hydrogen utilization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(P1), pages 78-91.
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    10. Yang, Chi-Jen & Xuan, Xiaowei & Jackson, Robert B., 2012. "China's coal price disturbances: Observations, explanations, and implications for global energy economies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 720-727.
    11. Li, Chengjiang & Negnevitsky, Michael & Wang, Xiaolin & Yue, Wen Long & Zou, Xin, 2019. "Multi-criteria analysis of policies for implementing clean energy vehicles in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 826-840.
    12. Nuthan Prasad, B.S. & Pandey, Jayashish Kumar & Kumar, G.N., 2020. "Impact of changing compression ratio on engine characteristics of an SI engine fueled with equi-volume blend of methanol and gasoline," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    13. Tabibian, Seyed Shayan & Sharifzadeh, Mahdi, 2023. "Statistical and analytical investigation of methanol applications, production technologies, value-chain and economy with a special focus on renewable methanol," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    14. Garcia, Gabriel & Arriola, Emmanuel & Chen, Wei-Hsin & De Luna, Mark Daniel, 2021. "A comprehensive review of hydrogen production from methanol thermochemical conversion for sustainability," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    15. von Storch, Henrik & Roeb, Martin & Stadler, Hannes & Sattler, Christian & Bardow, André & Hoffschmidt, Bernhard, 2016. "On the assessment of renewable industrial processes: Case study for solar co-production of methanol and power," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 121-132.
    16. Liu, Junheng & Ma, Haoran & Liang, Wenwen & Yang, Jun & Sun, Ping & Wang, Xidong & Wang, Yongxu & Wang, Pan, 2022. "Experimental investigation on combustion characteristics and influencing factors of PODE/methanol dual-fuel engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    17. Yang, Chi-Jen & Zhou, Yipei & Jackson, Robert B., 2014. "China's fuel gas sector: History, current status, and future prospects," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 12-21.
    18. Li, Chengjiang & Jia, Tingwen & Wang, Honglei & Wang, Xiaolin & Negnevitsky, Michael & Hu, Yu-jie & Zhao, Gang & Wang, Liang, 2023. "Assessing the prospect of deploying green methanol vehicles in China from energy, environmental and economic perspectives," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PE).
    19. Dinesh, M.H. & Pandey, Jayashish Kumar & Kumar, G.N., 2022. "Effect of parallel LPG fuelling in a methanol fuelled SI engine under variable compression ratio," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PC).
    20. Xiang, Dong & Zhou, Yunpeng, 2018. "Concept design and techno-economic performance of hydrogen and ammonia co-generation by coke-oven gas-pressure swing adsorption integrated with chemical looping hydrogen process," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 1024-1034.
    21. Su, Li-Wang & Li, Xiang-Rong & Sun, Zuo-Yu, 2013. "The consumption, production and transportation of methanol in China: A review," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 130-138.
    22. Pérez-Fortes, Mar & Schöneberger, Jan C. & Boulamanti, Aikaterini & Tzimas, Evangelos, 2016. "Methanol synthesis using captured CO2 as raw material: Techno-economic and environmental assessment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 718-732.

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