Air Quality Implications of Methanol Fuel Utilization

Methanol fuel utilization has been proposed as a way to reduce ozone levels in urban areas experiencing concentrations in excess of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard. Since methanol is less reactive than the complex mixture of organic compounds emitted by gasoline engines, emissions from methanol fueled engines may form less ozone. A three-tiered modeling study has been developed to quantify the reduction in ozone attainable with methanol fuel utilization. The results of the final tier of the modeling program, use of an airshed model to calculate changes in basinwide ozone levels, are presented here. Results indicate that methanol fuel utilization reduces ozone levels to a greater extent than conventional control scenarios do, but the amount of reduction is somewhat sensitive to the amount of formaldehyde in the vehicle emissions.