Fuel Fix reports that “China’s growing appetite for methanol has ignited a renaissance in North America, where vast supplies of cheap natural gas from the U.S. shale boom are attracting Chinese investments into new methanol plants.”  

“The methanol market has accelerated rapidly in recent years as the Chinese throw their money behind new projects to expand North America’s capacity to produce methanol. Made from natural gas, methanol is used in a wide range of products, including plastics, paints, solvents, refrigerants and pigments.”  

“Other countries also use methanol as a replacement or an additive to gasoline, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not approved it as a transportation fuel.”