Methanol, Hydrogen | Aviation
Methanol is one of the more attractive methods for making hydrogen as it offers unique advantages compared to its production counterparts. From logistical issues and clean processes through to scalable production, infrastructure reliance or the financial aspect of producing hydrogen, methanol as a carrier for fuel-cell grade hydrogen generation can help overcome some of the existing obstacles that the aviation industry is facing when it comes to clean fuels.
Logistically, the transportation of hydrogen as a clean fuel offers several challenges. Methanol, however, is a liquid under all reasonable environmental conditions and can be transported using lightweight and inexpensive conformal fuel tanks. It has more useful hydrogen in it volumetrically than liquid hydrogen, so if you treat methanol as the starting point for hydrogen creation, then the next puzzle you look to solve is the infrastructure. Fortunately, the infrastructure to transport hydrogen anywhere (globally or locally) exists now at every region of the world.
