When the country entered the National Two Sessions, the representatives and committee members focused on developing the automobile industry and actively offered suggestions. Among them, Li Shufu, deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of Geely Holding Group, put forward the "Suggestions on Promoting and Applying Methanol Vehicles to Help Transport Carbon Neutrality."

Li Shufu pointed out that the development of methanol vehicles in China has been more than 40 years. As a low-carbon, oxygen-containing fuel, methanol has the characteristics of efficient combustion, clean emission, and renewable green properties. It is liquid at room temperature and pressure and is safer and more convenient to store, operate and use than other new and clean energy sources. At the same time, methanol production has a wide range of sources, huge economic volume, and sustainable development of the entire industry chain. Therefore, methanol has become a new clean and green energy type recognized by the global industry and an essential choice for building future green energy. He suggested fully promoting the application of methanol vehicles domestically, incorporating methanol vehicles into the development system and management of new energy vehicles, giving methanol vehicles the same policy support as new energy vehicles, driving more enterprises to invest in the research and development of methanol vehicles, and accelerate the realization of the transportation sector. Carbon neutral. Looking back on the decades of development of methanol vehicles in China, " Methanol Minister " He Guangyuan has to mention that his name should be recorded on the first page of this history book.

He Guangyuan smiled a little embarrassedly when he mentioned the title of "Methanol Minister." 

"I originally studied metal pressure processing, and my research focuses on metal deformation processes such as forging, cold stamping, and rolling. My understanding of methanol is a layman," He Guangyuan said frankly.

 How did the coal chemical industry arouse He Guangyuan's interest? 

He recalled: "One year when I went to Shanxi on a business trip, Peng Zhigui, the former director of the Department of Machinery of Shanxi Province and later the vice governor of industry management, accompanied me to visit enterprises in the machinery industry such as Taiyuan Heavy Industry. Then he said, ' Minister He, I want to take you to see some interesting new things that are not our machinery industry.' Then he took me to Datong." 

"When we arrived in Datong, we went to see the car rental company. At that time, all the cars there were Xiali cars. At that time, Tianjin Xiali cars were not EFI models but carburetor models. They changed the gasoline-burning Xiali cars to combustion models. Methanol. After burning methanol, fuel for running cars is greatly reduced, and it is much cheaper than gasoline. Governor Peng said, 'I will accompany you to see a small fertilizer plant co-producing methanol.'" He Guangyuan said, "We went to see it. In addition to producing fertilizers, there is also a chemical plant in that small fertilizer factory. He told me that methanol does not contain sulfur, and the sulfur in coal passes through this device and is almost removed during the reaction process. It can also co-produce methanol, but it emits more carbon dioxide.”

He still remembered the scene at that time and gestured to us up and down the size of the installation, "Just look at something like a water tower, the water is rushing down, and there is such a big yellow 'big lump' in the middle, like what we ordinary people eat It looks like a bun on the corn, and it is sulfur. The sulfur is purified to produce fertilizer during the chemical reaction process, and methanol is produced. The disadvantage is that it consumes much water and emits more carbon dioxide."

"Methanol is an industrial by-product; isn't it a good thing to use this by-product to replace gasoline?" He Guangyuan thinks this is a good attempt.

In 2018, at the 3rd Methanol Vehicle and Methanol Fuel Application Equipment Exhibition, He Guangyuan, the methanol vehicle pilot expert group of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, cut the ribbon for the debut of my debut country's first methanol-reforming hydrogen fuel cell box truck.

"Then I went back to Beijing and later learned that the old Science and Technology Commission had imported 20 German Santana cars, which were methanol-burning cars, and had a trial run in Shanxi and Beijing." He Guangyuan recalled, " This was a cooperation project between the Science and Technology Commission and the Ministry of Chemical Industry at that time. These cars also used carburetors, so the cold start problem was much simpler than EFI. At that time, the Germans had conducted methanol car tests, so methanol cars not only We have it here in Shanxi. Later, Sweden, the United States, and other countries successively explored the application of methanol, and I began to follow up on this matter more and jointly organized the methanol vehicle test work with the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers the China Petrochemical Association. Two factories are participating in this test, one is Geely, and the other is Chery in Anhui. Yin Tongyue invested a lot at that time and made two models. One is flexible fuel, which can burn both methanol and gasoline; The other is the M00 methanol vehicle, which needs to solve the cold start problem of methanol vehicles."

02The initial pilot test was successful

"Later, the company carried out pilot work, and Shanghai was also the city where this work was carried out in the early days. The coking plant in Shanghai has a special methanol filling station. In this way, our methanol vehicle pilot project started slowly. By 2009 In 2018, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology organized a pilot project, and Geely, Shaanxi Automobile, Yutong, and Chenggong all participated. Now only the Geely family is left to develop in batches." He Guangyuan felt a little regretful in his words.

Inspected the Shanxi Jiaxin Methanol Fuel Filling Station.

"In addition to production in Zhejiang, Geely has industrial layouts in Guiyang in Guizhou, Baoji in Shaanxi, Jinzhong in Shanxi, and Nanchong in Chongqing. It is an enterprise that can provide (methanol) vehicles in batches. At present, the number of methanol vehicles is close to 3 10,000. The top cities are Guiyang, the second is Xi'an, Guiyang alone accounts for about 10,000 vehicles, and Xi'an is close to 10,000. In 2018, Shanghai, Baoji, Lanzhou, Pingliang, and other ten pilot cities had passed the national acceptance inspection. Finally, in 2019, the eight departments issued relevant documents to promote methanol vehicles conditionally in my country, which is truly recognized in terms of policies (policy licenses, administrative licenses, technical specifications, and market access). ." He Guangyuan recalled.

Inspected the Shanxi Jiaxin Methanol Fuel Filling Station.

In 2019, the "Guiding Opinions on the Application of Methanol Vehicles in Some Areas" jointly issued by eight departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, pointed out that the application of methanol vehicles, methanol fuel extended electric vehicles, methanol fuel hybrid vehicles, and methanol fuel cell vehicles can be encouraged according to local conditions. . The country and provinces have given support to enterprises in different links of the methanol automobile industry chain in terms of industrial technology cooperation, preferential policies, and market development, to promote the rapid growth of China's methanol automobile industry.

03 is an essential carrier of hydrogen

"Now, I think methanol has an exciting feature." He Guangyuan specially recorded it on the paper for fear that he would forget, "Now everyone is very concerned about the hydrogen economy, and methanol is a liquid fuel with the highest hydrogen content. Under pressure, 1 liter of methanol contains 98.8 grams of hydrogen. One methanol molecular formula contains one carbon, one oxygen, and four hydrogen atoms. It is an excellent carrier for hydrogen. What we call pure hydrogen includes green hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources. In a liquid state of -253 degrees, the hydrogen content of 1 liter reaches 70.8 grams, which is 28 grams less than methanol. Methanol has a higher hydrogen content than electrolysis of water under pressure and low-temperature cooling at average temperature and pressure.

In 2013, He Guangyuan, the methanol vehicle pilot work expert group of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology leader, and his party visited Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province.

He Guangyuan pointed out that among the many new and clean energy sources in the transportation field (electricity, hydrogen, natural gas, ammonia, etc.), methanol is the only liquid energy at room temperature and pressure, with excellent fuel properties, safe and convenient to use, and has the advantages of gasoline and diesel. Combustion characteristics.

In the autumn of 2018, He Guangyuan, the methanol vehicle pilot work expert group of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology leader, and his delegation visited the Suzhou R&D Center of Shanghai Bohydrogen New Energy Technology Co., Ltd.

"There is a doctor who came back from Canada and published a book on hydrogen production by methanol-reforming. He has a test base in Suzhou, and I went to see it. His methanol-reforming hydrogen production fuel cell was given to Dongfeng Motor's A small cargo card package." He Guangyuan described the device to us from memory, "It is a little narrower and taller than this table, the bottom of the container is methanol, and a thin layer in the middle is for cracking gas treatment, methanol passes through After cracking, hydrogen is input to the top layer for fuel cells. This process is much easier than a hydrogen refueling station specializing in hydrogen production, and there is no problem with methanol storage and transportation. Of course, there are many technical barriers to be passed and the fuel cell itself. There are some technical problems in the field. Many materials are working hard to solve key problems, and they have not yet achieved mass industrialization. These are all problems and challenges to be faced." 

"In the future, methanol is a significant development direction. In addition to direct combustion as vehicle power, it can also provide hydrogen energy for methanol fuel cells, greatly reducing investment problems. We do not need to spend so much money to build hydrogen storage. There is no need to build a complicated hydrogen refueling station." He Guangyuan pointed to the place under his feet, pointed to the sign on the wall, and said to us: "This organization is specialized in the promotion and application of methanol vehicles and methanol fuel. It is the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The Methanol Automobile Promotion and Application Expert Steering Committee's icon is the molecular formula of methanol, one carbon, one oxygen, and four hydrogens."

04The future of methanol application is bright

He Guangyuan has been committed to its promotion and application since he learned about methanol for more than 20 years.

On November 4, 2017, the "Second Methanol Vehicle Development Seminar" was held in Kunshan, Jiangsu. During the seminar, the Global Methanol Industry Association and the Rock Hydrocarbon Institute of the University of Southern California jointly awarded the "George Ola Methanol Economy Lifetime Achievement Award" to He Guangyuan, former Minister of Machinery Industry of China, and Li Shufu, Chairman of Geely Holding Group. George Ola Methanol Economy Outstanding Contribution Award" in recognition of their unremitting efforts and outstanding contributions to the research and promotion of methanol fuel and methanol vehicles.

"Li Shufu is very enthusiastic about methanol. In addition to cars, Geely also has a methanol technology route for heavy truck products, and he is now engaged in electric vehicles with extended range. The fuel for the extended range engine is methanol." Methanol vehicle development gave a high evaluation.

"Now you can see that methanol is used in vehicles, ships, stoves, boilers, and kilns. As a fuel, methanol has a wide range of applications. I especially think that fuel cells are an important development direction for automotive methanol that is particularly promising." He said.

Although the promotion of the methanol technology route has always been torturous and complicated compared to other technology routes, He Guangyuan is more optimistic about the development prospect of methanol application in the context of achieving the "two-carbon goal."

Just as Li Shufu mentioned in the "Suggestions on Promoting and Applying Methanol Vehicles to Help Transport Carbon Neutrality" during the National Two Sessions: the development of methanol fuel is entirely based on the actual energy resource endowment of China's "rich coal, lack of oil, and little gas.", the energy-saving and emission reduction potential of methanol and its contribution potential to carbon neutrality in the future have been recognized internationally. The development of methanol fuel in China and the promotion and application of methanol vehicles are of great significance to realizing the dual-carbon strategic goal in the field of transportation, ensuring energy security, and promoting healthy and sustainable economic development.