The Cost of Making Methanol Available to a National Market

The U.S. Department of Energy has completed the first phase of its analysis of the components and cost of a methanol fuel compatible transportation infrastructure. This paper integrates the results of that analysis with other analyses on likely infrastructure and market development issues to estimate the cost of putting methanol fuel (M-85) in the marketplace. (Unit and overall costs are estimated for various infrastructure components including fuel terminals, retail outlets and vehicles.

The infrastructure costs are considered in the context of a methanol utilization scenario based on assumptions about future methanol and oil prices and consumer behavior. Methanol use is determined by the competitive economics but evolves within the developed infrastructure which is assumed to be driven by non-market forces.