Just wondering as an old snipe, I see that there will be methanol-powered ships built. What kind of fuel efficiency would a ship like this get? How much methanol would a ship need to get to ports halfway around the world? Is it possible to produce that much methanol without putting dent in the world’s food supply. (I’m thinking corn.) And in jest, with sailors being sailors, how do you keep the crew from drinking the ship’s fuel? (and yes, I know methanol can be poisonous)
They’re already out there and have been for a while. I was on one a while back and they couldn’t run below Half Ahead on Methanol, so it’s just for the long passages.
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Methanol is typically made through a process using natural gas. Corn is used to make ethanol.
Chances are they would only do it once. After that, the Darwin principle would take over.
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Thanks for the reply. I was not aware there was a difference between methanol and ethanol. We have ethanol trains run through our small town to a storage/transfer facility a few miles outside of town. Of course, my post about drinking the fuel was in jest. But I’ve known a few sailors that I think could drink the stuff and survive. 
There are a lot of info on methanol used to powered ship in another thread here on the forum:
Thanks for the info. I guess it just shows how old I am and how things have changed. We just “pulled up to the pump” and said “700,000 gallons of diesel please”.
It takes about 2.2 x as much methanol as fuel oil for the same amount of energy. (if a ship burns 10mt of LSMGO or LSFO the same ship if capable will need 22MT of methanol per day) Methanol is a poison that will make you go blind in small doses and kill you pretty quickly after that. Interesting fact, the antidote for methanol is ethanol.
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Thank you for the info. I could be wrong but I’m thinking methanol and ethanol could be like comparing “wood alcohol” to “grain alcohol”.