by Venkata Kalyan Chivukula (Author)
Iceland as part of European Economic Area (EEA) is bound to develop renewable energy for the transportation sector. Unlike other countries, Iceland cannot develop biofuels from biomass due to its weather conditions. Carbon Recycling International (CRI) is producing Renewable Methanol (RM) from geothermal sources in Iceland via recycling CO2 through its patented technology. RM can be used as fuel in gasoline vehicles through direct blending to gasoline at high or low level blends. CRI is planning to blend RM into gasoline at 3% volume, to develop an RM3 blend, as allowed in European and Icelandic legislation and standards. Methanol has a long history of use in racing vehicles where it is valued both for its power producing properties and its safety aspects. There was significant interest in using methanol as a gasoline blending component for its higher octane value and lower emissions characteristics, which makes it a very attractive fuel or fuel blend for Spark Ignition (SI) engines.