ABSTRACT
The large-scale production and use of alcohol fuels will have a significant number of environmental benefits, but will also create problems. Alcohols are widely recognized as the best candidates for the rapid introduction of a new liquid fuel source; but only one country so far—Brazil—has introduced ethanol fuels into the transport sector, on a scale unknown and unmatched elsewhere, and in a remarkably short time. Methanol, an organic chemical manufactured in large quantities, is produced solely by synthetic methods. The environmental impact of ethanol can be divided into two main areas: production, and end use. Very little of the energy required for methanol production processes is supplied by external combustion sources. Methanol-gasoline blends could lead to both short- and long-term increases in evaporative emissions. The biomass-based fuels appropriate for transport applications are ethanol, methanol, producer gas from the gasification of biomass, and biogas from anaerobic digestion.
