Methanol is liquid under ambient temperature and atmosphere, of which is close to gasoline and diesel fuel. It can be produced out by a wide-ranging raw material, such as coal, natural gas, biomass and by carbon dioxide synthetized with hydrogen called the green methanol. The green methanol has been recognized as the fuel with low carbon emission even carbon neutrality, which has been used as marine fuel more and more widely. China is the country with largest productive capacity and production for methanol in global, of which it occupies 60% of global productive capacity and production. China took methanol as fuel to substitute for petroleum oil for many years since 40 years ago. Methanol now has been used as fuel for versatile utility, such as cooking, heat generation for civil and industrial use, furthermore for transportation and constructive machine. The review introduces the methanol production, cognition for methanol toxicity, development of green methanol and practices of methanol in industrial and civil, emphasizes the technical characteristics for utilities in vehicle, marine, locomotive and generation set, and points out the challenges methanol facing with while development as well as its prospect of future development in those fields.
