Assessment of costs and benefits of flexible and alternative fuel use in the US transportation sector
The Alternative Motor Fuels Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-494), Section 400EE, states that the Secretary of Energy ...shall study methanol plants, including the costs and practicability of such plants that are (A) capable of utilizing current domestic supplies of unutilized natural gas; (B) relocatable; or (C) suitable for natural gas to methanol conversion by natural gas distribution companies...'' The purpose of this report is to characterize unutilized gas within the lower 48 states and to perform an economic analysis of methanol plants required by the act. The approach with regard to unutilized lower 48 gas is to (1) compare the costs of converting such gas to methanol against the expected price of gasoline over the next 20 years, and (2) compare the economics of converting such gas to methanol against the economics of using the gas as a pipeline-transported fuel. This study concludes that remote gas and low-Btu gas generally cannot be converted to methanol at costs near the expected competitive value of gasoline because of the poor economies of scale of small methanol plants.
- Research Organization:
- USDOE Office of Policy, Planning and Analysis, Washington, DC (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 5578008
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/PE-0098P; ON: DE91015451
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Assessment of costs and benefits of flexible and alternative fuel use in the US transportation sector
Related Subjects
03 NATURAL GAS
33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
METHANOL
PRODUCTION
METHANOL PLANTS
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
CARBON DIOXIDE
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
FUEL SUBSTITUTION
HYDROGEN SULFIDES
NATURAL GAS
NITROGEN
PRICES
REMOVAL
TRANSPORTATION SECTOR
ALCOHOLS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
ECONOMICS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
NONMETALS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
SULFIDES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
100700* - Synthetic Fuels- Economic
Industrial
& Business Aspects- (1990-)
030400 - Natural Gas- Products & By-Products
330800 - Emission Control- Alternative Fuels
100200 - Synthetic Fuels- Production- (1990-)