Methanol, also known as wood alcohol with the chemical formula CH3OH, is a widely used organic solvent. As the simplest alcohol, methanol is light, colourless and volatile. It is also a flammable liquid with a special odour similar to drinking alcohol. Due to its toxicity, methanol can cause metabolic acidosis and even death.
Manufacturing Process
Methanol can be produced from many kinds of feedstocks in a series of reactions. Methanol is obtained in two stages. Feedstock natural gas is first converted into a synthesis gas stream including CO2, CO, H2O and hydrogen in a typical plant. Catalytic reforming of feed gas and steam helps to make the reaction happen. The next stage involves catalytic synthesis of methanol from the synthesis gas.
Biodiesel is an alternative fuel similar to conventional or ‘fossil’ diesel. Biodiesel can be produced from straight vegetable oil, animal oil/fats, tallow and waste cooking oil. The process used to convert these oils to Biodiesel is called transesterification. This process is described in more detail below. The largest possible source of suitable oil comes from oil crops such as rapeseed, sweet potatoes. In Sri Lanka rapeseed represents the greatest potential for biodiesel production. Most biodiesel produced at present is produced from waste vegetable oil sourced from restaurants, chip shops, industrial food producers such as Birdseye etc. Though oil straight from the agricultural industry represents the greatest potential source it is not being produced commercially simply because the raw oil is too expensive. After the cost of converting it to biodiesel has been added on it is simply too expensive to compete with fossil diesel. Waste vegetable oil can often be sourced for free or sourced already treated for a small price. (The waste oil must be treated before conversion to biodiesel to remove impurities). The result is Biodiesel produced from waste vegetable oil can compete with fossil diesel. More about the cost of biodiesel and how factors such as duty play an important role can be found here.
