According to the current situation of China's energy structure and market, it is urgent to take the road of energy diversification to alleviate the challenge of energy security, improve the air quality and promote the healthy and sustainable development of China's economy. Among them, in the field of transportation and energy, accelerating the promotion of methanol vehicles is one of the ways to deal with the above challenges.

Methanol fuel has been widely recognized at home and abroad for its cleanliness, high efficiency, safety and harmlessness to human body

Methanol as a fuel has the characteristics of safety and stability, excellent characteristics, wide application range and less pollution. In particular, the PM2.5 emission produced by methanol vehicles is 80% lower than that of traditional gasoline vehicles with the same displacement. The methanol machine has higher combustion efficiency and lower emission of carbon monoxide CO, hydrocarbon HC and nitrogen oxide NOx. Over the past 30 years, it has been proved that no harm to the environment and human health has been found by using methanol fuel.

Methanol automobile technology in China is relatively mature and in the leading position in the world

In the pilot operation project of methanol vehicles organized and launched by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in 2013, methanol vehicles in various regions performed well. At the same time, the production, testing, spare parts supply, maintenance service system and filling station construction standards of methanol vehicles have been gradually improved and mature.

Methanol has a wide range of production sources and mature production technology. In China, its capacity and output are fully guaranteed

Methanol can be made from coal (high sulfur coal), coke oven gas, coal bed gas, natural gas, biomass, carbon dioxide emissions and other resources. The green technology of recycling resources to produce methanol by synthesizing carbon dioxide exhaust gas from the air and hydrogen produced by electrolysis of water has been industrialized, and the maximum utilization of resources can be achieved by producing methanol from coke oven gas and methanol from inferior coal.

In 2016, China's methanol production capacity reached 81.45 million tons, and the actual output was 50,615,000 tons. A large amount of excess methanol capacity needs to be digested.

As soon as possible to promote the marketization of methanol vehicles in the country

The research, development, demonstration and pilot of methanol vehicles have gone through 35 years. A large number of experiments and pilots have proved the safety, power performance, reliability and environmental protection of methanol vehicles. However, the promotion of methanol vehicles is still limited to some pilot cities, which is not conducive to the free movement of vehicles and limits the promotion and application of methanol vehicles. It is suggested to take a substantial step in this regard by completely opening up the methanol automobile market and promoting the nationwide marketization of methanol vehicles as soon as possible.

At the same time, it is suggested that the state should give relevant supportive policies in the early stage of methanol vehicle development, so as to realize marketization transition as soon as possible.

We will continue to improve the construction of supporting infrastructure facilities, system development, operation management and safety assessment of related applications

At present, some areas of our country have developed a relatively perfect methanol fuel filling system through the pilot of methanol vehicles, and have accumulated certain operating experience. Based on these experiences, it is suggested to strengthen and improve the construction of supporting infrastructure, operation management and relevant application safety assessment in a wider area.

In addition, it is suggested to clarify the relevant technical specifications of methanol automobile products, formulate standards, accelerate the construction of the methanol standard system, and accelerate the marketization of methanol automobile.

Methanol as a strategic alternative energy was incorporated into the transportation fuel system

As mentioned above, decades of research at home and abroad have proved that methanol is an excellent fuel for internal combustion engines. At the same time, methanol has a wide range of sources and mature production technology. Therefore, it is suggested that methanol, a basic chemical raw material, be included in the national strategic alternative energy, and corresponding tax incentives should be provided from the policy level, so as to promote methanol fuel to give full play to its substitution advantages, lay the foundation for the market-oriented development of methanol vehicles, and help China achieve sustainable development of transportation energy.

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Do a good job of science popularization to clarify the misunderstanding of the public understanding of methanol

Since methanol fuel is not widely used in daily life, there are some misunderstandings in the public cognition of methanol. For example, they do not know enough about the safety of methanol and think that methanol is more dangerous than gasoline and diesel.

But in fact, methanol is a liquid at normal temperature, which is basically the same as gasoline and diesel in storage, transportation, filling and risk protection level. In flammable and explosive aspects, its safety is better than gasoline. And, as the public questioned whether methanol is toxic, but in fact, methanol, ethanol and gasoline, belong to the same level - WeiDu or mild damage level, ratio of methanol gasoline and diesel in the degradation of nature speed faster, methanol diesel and gas after combustion gas combustion of benzene and butene two kind of carcinogen, PM2.5 emissions is lower than gasoline fuel emissions by 80%.

Therefore, it is suggested to strengthen popular science publicity and education to the public, so as to lay a good market foundation for the development of methanol vehicles at the level of promotion and use.