Methanol+-+2

For the past few weeks 10th grade students at SLA have been learning about Chemicals, where they’re allowed, and how dangerous they are. One of the chemicals my group has been researching is Methanol. Methanol also known as Wood alcohol or Methyl alcohol is used in many products but mostly in cigarettes and car gasoline. Menthol is use in lozenges, syrups, creams/ointments, nasal sprays, powders, and candy. Menthol is allowed in the U.S, California, and the EU.

Methanol is both good and bad for the environment and human health. Large amounts of Methanol is highly flammable and is very harmful if inhaled. In the body It may cause dizziness, blindness or death if swallowed. Methanol may also cause liver, kidney, and heart damage if too much is taken. In the environment Methanol is very toxic in rivers and oceans if highly concentr ate.

We think Methanol should be banned. Methanol is useful in some ways like gasoline. Many people use methanol gasoline across America. Methanol gasoline cost less and works well but this is a very harmful chemical. Many people smoke and uses these products like candy and syrups. If this keeps happening this country will be in bad shape further into the future. We uses these products and mix it up in our body them we expel it into the sewage systems. The urine then goes down to lakes and oceans effecting the environment.

Menthol is found in cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco products, and tobacco rolling paper. About 90% of cigarettes marketed in the United States contain menthol, even if they are not advertised as menthol cigarettes. Only cigarettes containing a certain amount of menthol (0.1% to 0.45% of the tobacco filler weight) are marketed and advertised as menthol cigarettes

Menthol is added to many other products, including:


 * Lozenges
 * Syrups
 * Creams/ointments
 * Nasal sprays
 * Powders
 * Candy

In The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the menthol concentration in other products, including lozenges, shampoos, and ointments The FDA also mandates that warning labels be placed on cold medications, including those that contain menthol, indicating that continued use may hide the early warning symptoms of more serious conditions

Methanol fuel cell vehicle production prototype. • Top speed -- 100 mph. • Clean, quiet and produces energy much more efficiently than ICE.

Wood alcohol is methanol or methyl alcohol. It was originally made by the destructive distillation of wood in the absence of oxygen (pyrolysis).

Methanol is the simplest alcohol compound, comprised of one carbon atom, one oxygen atom and four hydrogen atoms (CH3OH). It is also referred to as wood alcohol, carbonyl and methyl alcohol.



People
 * Specific human or environmental systems with which it reacts?**

When it is mixed with gasoline as in M85, it burns with a noticeable color. It's more erosive than gasoline, but less toxic.
 * What happens when it degrades?**

Placed in waste, and water supplies and that’s how people get sick from drinking the water.
 * How is it disposed of?**

If it were banned, then gasoline wouldn't have it as a supplement anymore, and people and animals wouldn't get sick with it in their systems
 * What if it were banned?**

10¢ Regional Distribution • 4¢ Local Distribution • 5 ¢ Retail Mark-up • 9.15 ¢ Federal Tax • 9 ¢ State Tax (CA) • 30-45 ¢ Wholesale Methanol Cost • Pump Price of 67-82 ¢ per gallon • Consumer Cost = 77-94 ¢ per Gasoline equivalent gallon
 * Cost of alternatives?**

If it were banned, then we wouldn't be able to harvest it from methane gas in landfills in addition to fermented waste products such as sewage and manure.
 * What products would we not have if it were banned?**

California: 11,700 Stations – 10% = $59 Million – 25% = $146 Million • United States: 175,941 – 10% = $880 Million – 25%= $2.2 Billion • assumes cost $50,000 per station.
 * What countries export this product?**

The ban would affect the average American in a more of a fuel way, since methanol is used for gas fuels mostly. Maybe the gas wouldn't be as rich and affluent.
 * How/If a ban affects you (or the average American)?**

Political outcomes of banning Methanol would be that the gas economy would
 * What are the political ramifications of banning this chemical?**

Where we stand now we believe that Methyl Alcohol should be banned because it is a major threat to our health. It easily gets into our water supplies because it breaks down and becomes very toxic, just as toxic as regular gasoline. The ban of this material would drop our useable gasoline and raise the prices by millions. Across the U.S. there are about 200 thousand stations that use this gasoline. Each costing 50 thousand dollars. Erasing these would be wasting a 9 Billion dollar project. Methyl Alcohol is also used in many other things such as cigarettes and other daily used products. The small amounts in these items won’t be enough to cause you any harm. But then without it prices will rise or the product might even drop off out the industry. If only this could be disposed of in a safer manner then we can continue using Methyl Alcohol and keep ourselves and our families safe.