New process produces methanol renewably Methanol is essential for industry, but making it pollutes the environment. A new manufacturing method eliminates the greenhouse gas emissions. Climate Change and Environment © CRI hf Methanol (formally, methyl alcohol) is one of the most widely used of all industrial chemicals, necessary for countless manufacturing applications. Methanol is also a clean-burning fuel, often used as an additive for conventional fossil-based fuels or to replace some such fuels completely. However, methanol is manufactured using fossil-based raw materials and energy sources, so production is a significant emitter of greenhouse gases. Such emissions are subject to ambitious EU regulations. To comply, industry needs to transition to renewable manufacturing. The EU-funded Circlenergy project developed a process of making methanol using renewable materials and energy sources. Circlenergy is an SME Instrument Phase 2 continuation of an earlier EU-funded project of the same name. The new project refined the process developed by the previous team, scaling it up and increasing its flexibility, while also preparing it for commercialisation. Captured CO2, plus hydrogen Circlenergy’s proprietary core process is called Emissions-to-Liquids. “The process needs CO2 as raw material, captured from combustion sources, also hydrogen, produced by splitting water using electricity,” explains Ómar Sigurbjörnsson, director of sales and marketing at Carbon Recycling International. “These gases are combined, compressed and put into contact with a catalyst at high temperature and pressure, to form a liquid mixture of methanol and water. The water is then extracted by distillation, using heat, which leaves the end product: pure methanol.” The water can be reused for other purposes. Methanol produced this way (called e-methanol) is chemically identical to the normal kind and is available for all the same purposes. However, the Circlenergy method utilises waste CO2 that would otherwise enter the atmosphere. Using green electricity The process uses 10-11 MWh of electricity per tonne of methanol produced. The process meets this demand using electricity generated in various renewable ways, including solar and wind power. Such sources are more thermally efficient than coal, plus their use further reduces e-methanol’s carbon footprint. At the beginning of the project in 2019, the process was at technology readiness level (TRL 7), whereby a system prototype had been demonstrated in an operational environment. During the project, researchers developed the technology to TRL 8, meaning that the system is complete and qualified. The group is now ready to progress to the final stage. The Circlenergy team plans to build a full-scale plant in Norway, starting construction in 2022. The facility will be the world’s largest synthetic fuel plant to use renewable energy and waste carbon emissions. “The plant will capture approximately 150 000 tonnes of CO2 each year,” adds Sigurbjörnsson, “the same as removing 56 000 fossil fuel cars from the roads.” The plant will also annually produce 100 000 tonnes of e-methanol, and will generate its own hydrogen using renewably produced electricity. With two additional plants planned for China, the team expects that by 2024 the technology developed will be used to produce a total of 500 000 tonnes of methanol per year from recycled CO2 emissions. The new plants will manufacture methanol in a sustainable way, furthermore doing it with waste carbon that would otherwise reach the atmosphere. This will mean a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Keywords Circlenergy, methanol, fuel, e-methanol, carbon, manufacturing, waste carbon, renewable materials, Emissions-to-Liquids
