TU-TESL

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Photo source: during the development of new energy vehicles in Vision China, methanol fuel has attracted more and more attention due to its low cost, friendly environment and rich resources. Since the launch of methanol vehicle pilot work in 2012, governments, scientific research institutions and automobile enterprises have invested in R & D, production and application, and accumulated valuable experience. What is the development prospect of methanol vehicles? Recently, at the "international methanol vehicle and Methanol Fuel Application Conference" held in Chongqing, experts in the industry discussed. In March this year, the Ministry of industry and information technology, the Ministry of science and technology and other eight ministries and commissions jointly issued the guidance on the application of methanol vehicles in some regions, encouraging the application of methanol vehicles in Shaanxi and other regions with good resource endowment and methanol vehicle operation experience to accelerate, and the development of methanol vehicles ushered in new opportunities. Compared with other kinds of new energy, what are the advantages of methanol fuel? He Guangyuan, former Minister of the Ministry of machinery industry, pointed out that China's energy resource structure is characterized by lack of oil, less gas and relatively rich coal. In 2018, the dependence of crude oil and natural gas on foreign countries reached 70% and 43% respectively. The development of methanol fuel can reduce the dependence of oil and natural gas and further guarantee the national energy security. In China, high sulfur and low quality coal account for more than 40% of the coal resources. These coal are not suitable for power generation or fuel production, but it is a good choice for methanol production. At present, the proportion of coal-based methanol in China is about 75%. "Methanol has a wide range of sources of fuel. The raw materials for production are mainly coal, coke oven gas and natural gas. Even carbon dioxide can collect and regenerate methanol to realize resource recycling." Tang yuan, deputy secretary-general of China Policy Science Research Association, pointed out that the development of methanol fuel promotes the emerging industry of methanol fuel application and promotes the transformation and upgrading of coal industry. In terms of environmental protection, methanol fuel also has a unique advantage - not only combustion emissions are clean, but also more conducive to reducing carbon emissions. Li Li, inspector of the Department of energy conservation and comprehensive utilization of the Ministry of industry and information technology, stressed that the development of methanol vehicles is one of the effective ways to speed up the construction of the industrial system of green cycle and low-carbon development, and to promote the green and high-quality development of the automobile industry, which is of great significance for improving the energy structure and ensuring energy security in China. As early as 2009, China published and implemented the national standard of vehicle fuel methanol; in 2012, the Ministry of industry and information technology issued the notice on carrying out the pilot work of methanol vehicles, carrying out the pilot work in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Guizhou, Shanghai and other places. Up to 2018, 1024 methanol vehicles have been put into domestic pilot projects, with a total mileage of 184 million kilometers, and more than 500 million technical data have been collected. The evaluation report supported by technical data fully proves that methanol can be safely used in motor vehicles as fuel. Li Li pointed out that the exploration and practice from 2009 to 2019 accumulated valuable experience for the marketing promotion of methanol vehicles, gradually established and improved the relevant supporting standards and specifications, and verified the performance of methanol vehicles. With the support of the policy, a number of automobile and manufacturing enterprises, such as automobile, Shaanxi heavy automobile and Yutong automobile, have made important progress in the field of methanol automobile. Since 2005, Geely has carried out the research and development of methanol vehicle technology. Through the application exploration of pilot operation, Geely has gradually made breakthroughs in many key technologies, such as cold start at low temperature, development of methanol resistant materials, development of methanol engine, etc. "With the efforts of scientific researchers, we have solved the problems such as poor evaporation of methanol, immiscibility with diesel oil, etc., so that methanol can be used in positive ignition passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles and compression ignition diesel vehicles. At present, methanol taxis are everywhere in Xi'an and Guiyang, which not only improves the local environment, but also benefits users. " Jin Donghan, academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering and President of Tianjin University, said. At the same time, experts pointed out the problems existing in the development of methanol vehicles, such as the relatively low calorific value of methanol combustion, which makes it need a larger fuel tank than gasoline vehicles; the corrosiveness of methanol puts forward higher requirements for further improvement of methanol fuel technology; the supporting facilities such as filling stations are not perfect, and policies and standards are relatively lacking, which are currently restricting the promotion and application of methanol vehicles factor. Tang Yuan proposed that we should continue to promote the upgrading of methanol production technology, such as accelerating the research of wind energy hydrogen production technology, carbon dioxide and hydrogen synthesis methanol technology, and accelerating industrial application. At the same time, we need to support the development of methanol industry chain, accelerate the construction of relevant supporting facilities, continue to promote pilot experience, and further support from policies in methanol supply and transportation. Jin Donghan suggested that we should continue to strengthen the basic research on the application of methanol fuel, strengthen the cooperation in production, teaching, research and application of methanol fuel promotion and application, give full play to the role of talents and research equipment of universities and research institutes, so as to integrate the advantageous resources of scientific research institutions, enterprises and other parties; at the same time, we should strengthen international exchanges and cooperation to promote the application of methanol vehicles in the international market. "At present, the promotion and application of methanol vehicles are still subject to regional factors. It is easier to promote methanol vehicles in coal rich areas such as the northwest, where methanol resources are rich and easy to transport." Lin Xiaohu, deputy general manager of Geely new energy commercial vehicle company, said. However, in his opinion, methanol automobile and its industrial chain have ushered in the wind. In the future, the new energy market will gradually show a diversified development trend through further investment to open up the industrial chain and technological exploration in corrosion prevention.