Prof. Yao Chunde at the School of Mechanical Engineering at Tianjin University recently succeeded in developing a diesel-methanol compound combustion (DMCC) technology with his research team, which won first prize at the 2016 China Machinery Industry Science and Technology Awards.

Commercial demand for petroleum oil has been increasing in China, particularly in recent years. However, the oil supply has largely been imported. Replacing petroleum oil with methanol may be essential to solving energy scarcity.

The biggest challenge to using methanol as an alternative to petroleum is the difficulty in achieving the correct compression-ignition ratio for methanol. Prof. Yao and his team solved the problem and realized a 45 percent replacement of diesel by methanol in practical applications of diesel-methanol compound combustion technology.

Prof. Yao said the technology can be easily adopted by existing automobile engine systems, and can lower fuel costs by as much as 20 to 25 percent compared to petroleum-driven autos.

Only small changes are needed to provide a vehicle with a diesel-methanol system. The refit costs about 20,000 yuan ($2,900), and consists of installing a methanol nozzle at the intake-tube, a methanol fuel tank and an electronic control system.