This bound oxygen results in methanol having significantly different physical and chemical properties from typical hydrocarbon fuels. Methanol has been used for decades in a wide variety of industrial and consumer applications, and has been used as a racing fuel in Indy cars, dragsters and other high power applications. Only recently has methanol been investigated for use in ordinary cars and light trucks, and as a replacement for diesel fuel in heavy-duty trucks and buses. Methanol and the environment When used in a properly prepared engine, methanol could combust more completely than gasoline. This would result in lower levels of the exhaust emissions that contribute to urban pollution and global warming.
Methanol contains no aromatic compounds and therefore produces no benzene emissions.
Full analysis of all of the energy and materials required to produce and distribute methanol must be done, however, before the true environmental impact of large scale methanol use can be determined. Methanol and the transportation industry Canada's current transportation system primarily uses fuels derived from oil. In the early 1980s, methanol was seen as one possible replacement for conventional gasoline and diesel fuel. Methanol is more corrosive than gasoline and requires additives to reduce this effect. Unfortunately, methanol also separates from gasoline in the presence of water and therefore requires a co-solvent such as ethanol, isopropanol, isobutanol or tertiary butyl alcohol, along with stringent handling procedures, to avoid water contamination.