BOOKS
Putting Methanol in America's Gas Tanks Reviewed by James R. Crocco
Hardly any red-blooded American can dispute a claim that major national priorities include cleaning the air, creating more jobs, and reducing U.S. dependence on imported energy. In "Moving America to Methanol/' Charles L. Gray Jr. and Jeffrey A. Alson present a very interesting and detailed plan to utilize fuel methanol produced from domestic coal to accomplish these ends. Their plan, if implemented, would convert high-sulfur coal to methanol, thereby releasing lowsulfur coal for exclusive use in utility power plants. This alone would result in a substantial savings in investments for scrubbers to reduce emissions and would result in cleaner air, especially in the Ohio River Valley. At a peak period, moreover, as many as 400,000 new jobs could be created (many in chronically depressed areas of the country) in construction, mining, vehicle manufacture, transportation, and so on. And about a quarter of a million people would be needed to service the system after it reached full operation and potential. The target would be to put 5 million methanol vehicles on the road per year over a five-year introductory period. Although such a move to use fuel methanol for transportation would provide many environmental and financial benefits, it would not be without huge initial costs. Among those noted in "Moving America to Methanol" are federally backed producer and consumer incentives, plus investments in transportation and distribution systems for the new fuel. A federally sponsored program to guarantee the price of methanol also is proposed to entice private industry to invest the huge sums required to build a sufficient number of coal-to-methanol plants. In addition, Gray and Alson recommend a vehicle tax credit of
eaucrat's dream. Such an ambitious undertaking would involve many facets of local, state, and federal governments, and I suggest the book as required reading, especially for officials in states with high levels of air pollution and unemployment. The proposals put forth by Gray and Alson, both of whom work for the emission control technology division of the Environmental Protection Agency, are certainly wor"Moving America to Methanol" by thy of serious consideration. But the Charles L. Gray Jr. and Jeffrey A. authors have not done much to reAlson, University of Michigan veal some of the realistic problems Press, P.O. Box 1104, Ann Arbor, and concerns that are likely. Mich. 48106, 1986, 144 pages, $25 A major concern to the public, (hardback), $12.50 (paperbound) which will be responsible for the ultimate success of any consumerJames R. Crocco, president of Crocco & oriented program, will be that of Associates, a methanol market consult- initial vehicle cost and resale value. ing firm in Houston, has 22 years' expe- Until major mass production of rience in international petrochemical methanol-fueled vehicles can be remarketing alized, unit costs no doubt will be higher than those for traditionally fueled autos, although this cost could be offset by tax credits for pur$1000 per unit for the first year, chases. Eventual resale value is alscaled down to $600 by the third ways a primary car-buyer concern, year, to stimulate the interest of the also, and we have only to look at the final consumer. A new and expen- ill-fated development of an Amerisive nationwide distribution system can diesel car for an example of would have to be put in place for the what could be in store. And diesel fuel, including separate storage oil is more of a traditional automotanks and pumps at most service sta- tive fuel than methanol. I cannot believe, moreover, that tions; this cost probably would be borne by the methanol fuel market- petroleum refining companies will ers. open their doors graciously to allow To fund most of the federal ex- a fuel produced from a competing penses, Gray and Alson suggest a feedstock (as opposed to diesel fuel) highway fuel tax and/or a crude oil to be distributed and marketed tax, probably directed specifically to through their systems and retail imported petroleum. The proposed outlets, although that would be rehighway fuel tax would begin at 8 quired in many instances for the cents per gal on gasoline and diesel new fuel to be readily available to fuel, escalating up to 40 cents per gal the consuming public. Oil compaover a period of five years. The alter- nies are very traditional and they native is to increase imported oil are in the business of recovering costs, by means of taxes, to a cap. and refining petroleum and marketWith the current decline in the val- ing its derivatives. They probably ue of crude oil, a federal windfall would have no desire to assist in the probably would be realized, given development of a fuel that would today's conditions. have a negative influence on their The program outlined in "Mov- base business. Besides, should a ing America to Methanol" is a bur- noncompatible fuel acquire a sub-
A plan to replace oil imports with methanol, reducing acid rain and reviving the economy, may be unrealistic now
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Books stantial portion of a market, problems could develop back at the refinery with product mix. Concern about cleaner air is, of course, very admirable. However, I believe the politicians in some localities will view cleaning the air as a means to expand local industry back to the maximum level allowed by air pollution standards. The end result, despite the creating of new jobs and the broadening of the tax base, will be self-defeating as far as cleaner air is concerned. From the businessman's point of view, there have been some very painful examples of what can occur when too much reliance is put on government support for entrepreneurial enterprises. We need only look to the demise of Synthetic Fuels Corp. (SFC) and the waning gasohol program. With the stabilization and then decline of world energy prices, SFC quickly became a white elephant and was finally abandoned during a period of federal austerity. It is well known that ethanol could never stand on its own economic merits when blended into gasoline, so that heavy tax incentives would be required to make gasohol a success. Such incentives are now being repealed as states seek additional revenues, and ethanol-producing facilities are going out of business. The magnitude of the methanolproducing facilities proposed by the authors goes beyond even the original scope of SFC, which included price guarantees, and some private companies have fallen into serious difficulties after traveling down the garden path of the synthetic fuels program. Such companies must operate on firm long-term decisions; policies that are subject to change or cancellation with each change in administration or decline in energy values present a serious business risk. Price guarantees sound good on the surface, but when economic conditions turn very unfavorable they can be dropped. All in all, "Moving America to Methanol" provides a means to stimulate thought in the fields of environmental considerations, energy independence, economic revitalization, and governmental involvement. However, at this point, I 58
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believe it is a somewhat naive approach to real world conditions. Raising taxes to the degree required to fund such an extensive program will be no simple matter. Consumers will be extremely reluctant to pay more, either directly or indirectly, to clean up the environment or reduce balance-of-payments problems. Because of environmental and other considerations, it probably will take longer than the five years proposed by the authors to get coal-based methanol plants on-line. And given recent experiences of government involvement in energy-related programs, enticing cooperation from qualified companies in the private sector could be a problem. Also, the consumer will need large incentives to serve as a guinea pig in the development of a nontra-
ditional fuel. Fortunately, we have learned, with 20/20 hindsight, that the sky of the energy industry was not really falling in the early and late 1970s and that tremendous amounts of effort and money were wasted then in seeking fuel alternatives. The world is not necessarily running out of energy, although it may be running out of cheap energy. Perhaps many of the proposals in "Moving America to Methanol" eventually will be considered, possibly even with some government mandate, if a crisis arrives for traditional fuels. In the meantime, I believe the book's ideas are put forth in a somewhat simplistic manner and that they are probably 10 to 20 years ahead of their time. But then, it is never too early to think. D
A handbook of hazards "Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards: An Indexed Guide to Published Data/' third edition, by Leslie Bretherick, Butterworth's, 80 Montvale Ave., Stoneham, Mass. 02180, 1985,1852 pages, $99.95 Reviewed by Howard H. Fawcett, chemical safety and health consultant in Wheaton, Md. In the third edition of "Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards/' Leslie Bretherick, a chemist recently retired from British Petroleum's Sunbury Research Center in England, updates the two earlier editions with references to the world literature on reactive chemicals through December 1984. This monumental book, first published in 1972, presents essential information and references for more than 9000 elements and chemicals, including their IUPAC name, Chemical Abstracts Service registry number, empirical formula, and structure. Each chemical listed is cross-referenced with regard to stability hazards and its reactivity in mixtures
with other substances. Chemicals are classified on the basis of similarity in structure or reactivity, and each class is further grouped, in a separate section, by types, such as dusts, explosives, haloalkenes, and exothermic or endothermic compounds. The index is meticulous. This handbook should be used by every laboratory chemist, as well as by students and managers. Too many of the chemical boobytraps it reports were unearthed by an unexpected incident. In addition, fire, security, medical, and other emergency personnel should have it available for use when unusual chemical emergencies occur during times when technical personnel are not available. Although the reactions the book covers may be academic, their costs are significant. As Bretherick notes, one incident involving perchloric acid in Los Angeles in 1947 damaged 116 buildings, with a loss of about $3 million. An explosion of ammonium nitrate at Oppau, Germany, in 1923 caused 600 deaths; 492 deaths and damages of $50 million resulted from the 1947 detonation in Texas City, Tex., of coated
ammonium nitrate—even though coated material had been plainly identified as an explosive in a 1943 Canadian patent. And the more re cent death toll of the methyl isocyanate tragedy in Bhopal, India, may never be accurately known. If we do not learn from the past, we are likely to repeat such mis takes. Bretherick has assembled the factual records about chemical haz ards; now they should be widely read and their implications fully noted. D Acid Rain and Friendly Neighbors: The Pol icy Dispute between Canada and the United States. Jurgen Schmandt, Hilliard Roderick, editors, xiii + 332 pages. Duke University Press, 667 College Station, Durham, N.C. 27708. 1986. $45. AGA Gas Handbook. Kersti Ahlberg, editor, χ + 582 pages. Almqvist & Wiksell Interna tional, P.O. Box 45150, S-104 30 Stockholm, Sweden. 1985. SEK 275. Americium and Curium Chemistry and Technology. Norman M. Edelstein, James D. Navratil, Wallace W. Schulz, editors, vii + 339 pages. D. Reidel Publishing Co., 190 Old Derby St., Hingham, Mass. 02043. 1985. $44.50. Annual Reports on Analytical Atomic Spec troscopy. Vol. 14. M. S. Cresser, L. Ebdon, editors, xiii + 445 pages. Royal Society of Chemistry, Distribution Centre, Blackhorse Rd., Letchworth, Herts., SG6 1HN, England. 1985.$117. Annual Reports on the Progress of Chemis try. Vol. 81,1984. Section A: Inorganic Chem istry. J. D. Donaldson et al. xiv + 416 pages. Royal Society of Chemistry, Distribution Centre, Blackhorse, Letchworth, Herts., SG6 1HN, England. 1985. $101. Annual Reports on the Progress of Chemis try. Vol. 81,1984. Section B: Organic Chemis try. P. J. Garratt, J. M. Mellor. xiii + 400 pages. Royal Society of Chemistry, Distribution Centre, Blackhorse Rd., Letchworth, Herts., SG6 1HN, England. 1985. $116. Annual Reports on the Progress of Chemis try. Vol. 81, 1984. Section C: Physical Chem istry. M. C. R. Symons et al. xii + 336 pages. Royal Society of Chemistry, Distribution Centre, Blackhorse, Letchworth, Herts., SG6 1HN, England. 1985. $97. Artificial Intelligence in Maintenance. J. Jeffrey Richardson, editor, xx + 485 pages. Noyes Publications, Mill Rd. at Grand Ave., Park Ridge, N.J. 07656. 1985. $48.
Asymmetric Catalysis. B. Bosnich, editor, viii + 160 pages. Kluwer Academic, 190 Old Derby St., Hingham, Mass. 02043. 1985.
John Wiley & Sons Inc., 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1985. $31.95.
$45.50.
The Chemist's English. Robert Schoenfeld. xii + 173 pages. VCH Verlagsgesellschaft/ Physik-Verlag, P.O. Box 1260/1280, D-6940 Weinheim, West Germany. 1985. $16.95.
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics of Air Pollution. John H. Seinfeld, xxiii + 738 pages. John Wiley & Sons Inc., 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1986. $59.95. Bibliography of Bioethics. Vol. 11. LeRoy Walters, Tamar Joy Kahn, editors, xi + 444 pages. Kennedy Institute of Ethics, George town University, Washington, D.C. 20057. 1985. $25. Biochemical Engineering Fundamentals. 2nd Ed. James E. Bailey, David F. Ollis. xxi + 984 pages. McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1221 Ave. of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020.1986. $47.95.
Biotechnology and Wastewater Treatment. C. F. Forster. xiii + 376 pages. Cambridge University Press, 32 East 57th St., New York, N.Y. 10022. 1985. $59.50. Biotechnology of Marine Polysaccharides. Rita R. Colwell, E. R. Pariser, Anthony J. Sinskey, editors, xi + 559 pages. Hemisphere Publishing Corp., 79 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1985. $79.95. CAD/CAM Dictionary. Edward J. Preston, George W. Crawford, Mark E. Coticchia. iii + 210 pages. Marcel Dekker Inc., 270 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10061. 1985. $39.75. Carbohydrate Chemistry. Vol. 17, Pt. 1. N. R. Williams et al. x + 275 pages. Royal Society of Chemistry, Distribution Centre, Blackhorse Rd., Letchworth, Herts., SG6 1HN, England. 1985. $87. Carbon Nitrogen Sulfur: Human Interfer ence in Grand Biospheric Cycles. Vaclav Smil. xv + 459 pages. Plenum Press, 233 Spring St., New York, N.Y. 10017. 1985. $75. Catalysis: Science and Technology. Vol. 7. John R. Anderson, Michel Boudart, editor, χ + 222 pages. Springer-Verlag New York, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10010. 1985. $49.50. Ceramic Containing Systems: Mechanical Aspects of Interfaces and Surfaces. A. G. Ev ans, editor, xi + 367 pages. Noyes Publica tions, Mill Rd. at Grand Ave., Park Ridge, N.J. 07656. 1986. $36. Chemical, Biological, and Industrial Appli cations of Infrared Spectroscopy. James R. Durig, editor, xviii + 399 pages. John Wiley & Sons Inc., 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1985. Chemical Engineering: A Review for the P. E. Exam. William E. Crockett, ix + 269 pages.
Chromatography/Foams/Copolymers. Y. Doi et al. 263 pages. Springer-Verlag New York, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10010. 1986. $53.
Paperbacks Composite Materials Glossary. C. M. Bower. 68 pages. T/C Press, P.O. Box 36A28, Los An geles, Calif. 90036. 1985. $18. Continuing the Nuclear Dialogue. Alvin M. Weinberg, xii + 204 pages. American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Ave., LaGrange Park, 111. 60525. 1985. $25. Directory of Federal Laboratory & Technol ogy Resources. U.S. Department of Com merce, viii + 288 pages. National Technical Information Service, 5285 Port Royal Rd., Springfield, Va. 22161. 1986. $29. Distillation Design in Practice. L. M. Rose. xiii + 307 pages. Elsevier Science Publishers, 52 Vanderbilt Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017. 1985. $29.50. Energy From Biomass and Wastes IX. Don ald L. Klass. Institute of Gas Technology, IIT Center, 3424 South State St., Chicago, 111. 60616. 1986. $100. 1985 Guide to Petroleum Statistical Infor mation, i + 129 pages. American Petroleum Institute, 156 William St., New York, N.Y. 10038. 1986. $50. The Language of Risk: Conflicting Perspec tives on Occupational Health. Dorothy Nelkin, editor. 200 pages. SAGE Publications, 275 South Beverly Dr., Beverly Hills, Calif. 90212. 1985. $12.50 paperback; $25 hard cov er. Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. J. M. Walker, Ε. Β. Gingold, editors. 340 pages. Royal Society of Chemistry, Distribution Centre, Blackhorse Rd., Letchworth, Herts., SG6 1HN, England. 1985. $45. Patent It Yourself. David Pressman, χ + 421 pages. Nolo Press, 950 Parker St., Berkeley, Calif. 94710. 1985. $24.95. Quality Control for Plastics: How To Set Up and Run a Quality Program in a Plastics Processing Facility. William J. Tobin. 150 pages. T/C Press, P.O. Box 36A28, Los Ange les, Calif. 90036. 1986. $50. May 5, 1986 C&EN
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