SHELL BEGINS TEST OF METHANOL/GASOLINE FUEL

Feb. 12, 1990
Shell Oil Co., saying much more information is needed on methanol's effects as a motor fuel, has launched a methanol/gasoline fuel test program in California. Shell is undertaking the 10 year program in cooperation with the California Energy Commission (CEC). Shell hopes the program will help answer many of the "economic, logistical, health and safety, technical, environmental, and consumer acceptance questions associated with methanol fuel," said O.P. Graves, vice-president, western

Shell Oil Co., saying much more information is needed on methanol's effects as a motor fuel, has launched a methanol/gasoline fuel test program in California.

Shell is undertaking the 10 year program in cooperation with the California Energy Commission (CEC).

Shell hopes the program will help answer many of the "economic, logistical, health and safety, technical, environmental, and consumer acceptance questions associated with methanol fuel," said O.P. Graves, vice-president, western region, Shell Refining & Marketing Co.

The company plans to sell M85, a 102 octane blend of 85% methanol and 15% unleaded gasoline, starting in May at four California service stations in areas where flexible fuel vehicle fleets are present. Shell will buy the M85 from the CEC, which will deliver it to Shell stations.

Shell also plans to buy as many as 10 flexible fuel vehicles. It will buy two at first for use by employees at Shell's Wilmington manufacturing complex near Los Angeles to gain first hand knowledge of M85's performance.

A Shell chemical engineer, Chuck A. Lieder, this month is completing a 6 month assignment with CEC in Sacramento assisting in technical, economic, and marketing analysis for the methanol demonstration project.

Lieder is sampling and testing fuel, conducting economic and technology reviews of methanol manufacture, and trying to predict how the refining industry would be affected by rules on gasoline formulation.

SIZING UP METHANOL

Shell sees the California program as a way to obtain hard data to evaluate the company's concerns about methanol.

Methanol use may reduce the pollutants the Environmental Protection Agency says prevent urban areas from attaining clean air standards, but Shell said results are inconclusive and more data are needed.

Greater methanol use could increase emissions of formaldehyde, whose effects on the atmosphere are largely unknown. Methanol requires careful handling because it is acutely toxic when ingested, breathed, or absorbed through the skin. It is a central nervous system depressant and can cause blindness in sublethal doses, the company said.

Methanol's energy content is about one-half that of gasoline.

Shell is participating in the program in part to determine the feasibility of marketing M85.

About 500 flexible fuel vehicles are on California's highways, and about 5,000 are expected to be in use by 1992, many of them in government and company fleets.

Shell will install, operate, and maintain the M85 equipment, while CEC will supply the methanol, fuel storage, and dispensing equipment.

Motorists using the service will be required to use a device similar to a credit card and a personal identification number to prevent misfueling.

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