A Chemistry Breakthrough That Could Fuel a Revolution Now methanol can be made from natural gas and captured carbon dioxide. By GEORGE A. OLAH And CHRIS COX A personal note first. I took a lot of Organic Chemistry in College. Not because I I Needed it for a Degree, but because I loved the whole Thing. Jungle Jim was the pet name we had for our instructor. A few years ago when the whole fuel issue was on the table, I thought about why couldn't somehow CO2 and CH3 be combined reactivity to Create CH4O, methanol in liquid form that would burn straight up in gasoline vehicles. Now it appears we are on the cusp... if we can get government out of the way. This is far more encouraging than first appears. If I have some other chemistry buffs on FB, you can verify this. I hope Chuck Comstock will see this. And all the people who won't read me, but know I get the energy thing. Be encouraged: In the three weeks since the Obama administration issued its long-promised proposal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, it has become clear the plan is far from perfect. By placing the burden of expensive new carbon capture and sequestration technology on the U.S. alone, and potentially requiring steep cuts in domestic energy to conform to carbon caps, the proposal could send the U.S. economy into shock without making a significant dent in global emissions. There is a better approach that can reduce greenhouse-gas emissions while growing the economy and increasing U.S. energy independence. In place of expensive mandates and wasteful subsidies, what is needed are powerful economic incentives. These incentives should operate not just in the U.S., but in other countries as well. Thanks to recent developments in chemistry, a new way to convert carbon dioxide into methanol—a simple alcohol now used primarily by industry but increasingly attracting attention as transportation fuel—can now make it profitable for America and the world to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. At laboratories such as the University of Southern California's Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute (founded by George Olah, one of the authors here), researchers have discovered how to produce methanol at significantly lower cost than gasoline directly from carbon dioxide. So instead of capturing and "sequestering" carbon dioxide—the Obama administration's current plan is to bury it—this environmental pariah can be recycled into fuel for autos, trucks and ships. Related breakthroughs in chemistry now make it possible to efficiently convert natural gas from shale into methanol. Hydraulic fracturing is making shale gas so inexpensive and abundant that America now taps more natural gas than either Saudi Arabia or Russia. Until now, however, that abundance of supply has not translated directly into benefits for drivers in the form of lower fuel costs, or reduced dependence on foreign oil. The methanol-conversion process can be a game changer, because shale gas can immediately be put to use as liquid transportation fuel. Methanol has long been known as a superior fuel for cars, one that is better for the environment than either gasoline or ethanol. Beginning in 1989, the California Energy Commission tested the viability of methanol as a vehicle fuel and found that it generates much lower vehicle emissions. Methanol-gasoline blends have cleaner burning properties than gasoline alone, reducing harmful NOx emissions—mono-nitrogen oxides, which produce smog and acid rain—and polluting particulate matter. Methanol also provides higher performance. It has an octane rating of 100, greater than premium gasoline, one reason that pure methanol was used for decades to fuel the race cars at the Indianapolis 500. Yet putting methanol in the gas tank is economical, too. It is significantly cheaper per mile driven than either gasoline or ethanol. Unlike ethanol, methanol does not raise food prices.

A Chemistry Breakthrough That Could Fuel a Revolution
Now methanol can be made from natural gas and captured carbon dioxide.
By GEORGE A. OLAH And CHRIS COX

A personal note first. I took a lot of Organic Chemistry in College. Not because I I Needed it for a Degree, but because I loved the whole Thing. Jungle Jim was the pet name we had for our instructor. A few years ago when the whole fuel issue was on the table, I thought about wA Chemistry Breakthrough That Could Fuel a Revolution
Now methanol can be made from natural gas and captured carbon dioxide.
By GEORGE A. OLAH And CHRIS COX
A personal note first. I took a lot of Organic Chemistry in College. Not because I I Needed it for a Degree, but because I loved the whole Thing. Jungle Jim was the pet name we had for our instructor. A few years ago when the whole fuel issue was on the table, I thought about why couldn't somehow CO2 and CH3 be combined reactivity to Create CH4O, methanol in liquid form that would burn straight up in gasoline vehicles. Now it appears we are on the cusp... if we can get government out of the way. This is far more encouraging than first appears. 


In the three weeks since the Obama administration issued its long-promised proposal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, it has become clear the plan is far from perfect. By placing the burden of expensive new carbon capture and sequestration technology on the U.S. alone, and potentially requiring steep cuts in domestic energy to conform to carbon caps, the proposal could send the U.S. economy into shock without making a significant dent in global emissions.

There is a better approach that can reduce greenhouse-gas emissions while growing the economy and increasing U.S. energy independence.

In place of expensive mandates and wasteful subsidies, what is needed are powerful economic incentives. These incentives should operate not just in the U.S., but in other countries as well.

Thanks to recent developments in chemistry, a new way to convert carbon dioxide into methanol—a simple alcohol now used primarily by industry but increasingly attracting attention as transportation fuel—can now make it profitable for America and the world to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions.

At laboratories such as the University of Southern California's Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute (founded by George Olah, one of the authors here), researchers have discovered how to produce methanol at significantly lower cost than gasoline directly from carbon dioxide. So instead of capturing and "sequestering" carbon dioxide—the Obama administration's current plan is to bury it—this environmental pariah can be recycled into fuel for autos, trucks and ships.

Related breakthroughs in chemistry now make it possible to efficiently convert natural gas from shale into methanol. Hydraulic fracturing is making shale gas so inexpensive and abundant that America now taps more natural gas than either Saudi Arabia or Russia. Until now, however, that abundance of supply has not translated directly into benefits for drivers in the form of lower fuel costs, or reduced dependence on foreign oil. The methanol-conversion process can be a game changer, because shale gas can immediately be put to use as liquid transportation fuel.

Methanol has long been known as a superior fuel for cars, one that is better for the environment than either gasoline or ethanol. Beginning in 1989, the California Energy Commission tested the viability of methanol as a vehicle fuel and found that it generates much lower vehicle emissions. Methanol-gasoline blends have cleaner burning properties than gasoline alone, reducing harmful NOx emissions—mono-nitrogen oxides, which produce smog and acid rain—and polluting particulate matter.

Methanol also provides higher performance. It has an octane rating of 100, greater than premium gasoline, one reason that pure methanol was used for decades to fuel the race cars at the Indianapolis 500. Yet putting methanol in the gas tank is economical, too. It is significantly cheaper per mile driven than either gasoline or ethanol. Unlike ethanol, methanol does not raise food prices. Now it appears we are on the cusp... if we can get government out of the way. This is far more encouraging than first appears.


In the three weeks since the Obama administration issued its long-promised proposal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, it has become clear the plan is far from perfect. By placing the burden of expensive new carbon capture and sequestration technology on the U.S. alone, and potentially requiring steep cuts in domestic energy to conform to carbon caps, the proposal could send the U.S. economy into shock without making a significant dent in global emissions.

There is a better approach that can reduce greenhouse-gas emissions while growing the economy and increasing U.S. energy independence.

In place of expensive mandates and wasteful subsidies, what is needed are powerful economic incentives. These incentives should operate not just in the U.S., but in other countries as well.

Thanks to recent developments in chemistry, a new way to convert carbon dioxide into methanol—a simple alcohol now used primarily by industry but increasingly attracting attention as transportation fuel—can now make it profitable for America and the world to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions.

At laboratories such as the University of Southern California's Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute (founded by George Olah, one of the authors here), researchers have discovered how to produce methanol at significantly lower cost than gasoline directly from carbon dioxide. So instead of capturing and "sequestering" carbon dioxide—the Obama administration's current plan is to bury it—this environmental pariah can be recycled into fuel for autos, trucks and ships.

Related breakthroughs in chemistry now make it possible to efficiently convert natural gas from shale into methanol. Hydraulic fracturing is making shale gas so inexpensive and abundant that America now taps more natural gas than either Saudi Arabia or Russia. Until now, however, that abundance of supply has not translated directly into benefits for drivers in the form of lower fuel costs, or reduced dependence on foreign oil. The methanol-conversion process can be a game changer, because shale gas can immediately be put to use as liquid transportation fuel.

Methanol has long been known as a superior fuel for cars, one that is better for the environment than either gasoline or ethanol. Beginning in 1989, the California Energy Commission tested the viability of methanol as a vehicle fuel and found that it generates much lower vehicle emissions. Methanol-gasoline blends have cleaner burning properties than gasoline alone, reducing harmful NOx emissions—mono-nitrogen oxides, which produce smog and acid rain—and polluting particulate matter.

Methanol also provides higher performance. It has an octane rating of 100, greater than premium gasoline, one reason that pure methanol was used for decades to fuel the race cars at the Indianapolis 500. Yet putting methanol in the gas tank is economical, too. It is significantly cheaper per mile driven than either gasoline or ethanol. Unlike ethanol, methanol does not raise food prices.

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