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German researchers say methanol could be the solution to long-term renewable energy storage, and a single methanol tank the size of a large LNG carrier ship, is enough to power Germany for 10 hours. (spectrum.ieee.org)

submitted 11 months ago by Lugh to c/futurology

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[–] Addv4@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Are the only yields co2 and water? That is my main concern, as I'd guess making methanol in mass would require quite large quantities of fresh water and if the yield is lossy, then you would lose a lot of fresh water. I get it is probably much cleaner than most of the fuel that shipping uses, but it does establish a precedent of converting fresh water to fuel (admittedly while capturing co2).

[–] supercriticalcheese@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

Yes CO2 and Water. Methanol is CH3-OH.

There would be some minor treatment for the water I imagine, cause after all combustion always leave some traces of dust, and the addition of additives to make demineralised water conductive for electrolisis.