Gas 2023 Issue

was expanded in 2015, delivering 4,000 t/y. The plant uses the 5,600 t/y of CO 2 captured from a geothermal power plant and renewable electricity from the Icelandic grid to produce electrolytic hydrogen for use in methanol synthesis • Leuna, Germany’s e-CO 2 methanol project, is a 1.5 t/d green methanol pilot. The green hydrogen obtained from the 1 MW electrolyser and highly concentrated CO 2 from the refinery’s production processes will be converted into green methanol • Sweden’s Lulea FReSMe (From Residual Steel gases to Methanol) project is a demonstration-scale project to produce 1 t/d of e-methanol using CO 2 captured from an industrial steel blast furnace and hydrogen recovered from the blast furnace in addition to its production by electrolysis • Chile’s Haru Oni Project involves a group of companies building a plant to produce e-methanol using green hydro- gen and CO 2 captured from a direct air capture facility. Initially, the pilot plant will produce around 750 t/y of green methanol, expanded to 1 million t/y by 2026 • In Antwerp, Belgium, a consortium of seven players are building a ‘power-to-methanol’ demonstration plant. The demonstration plant aimed to produce 8,000 t/y of sustain- able methanol in 2022 • In Finland, the energy company St1 is planning the first synthetic methanol plant of 25,000 t/y and will be opera- tional in 2026. The synthetic methanol production plant will use hard-to-abate CO 2 emissions from limestone raw material at the Finnsementti factory, and another raw mate- rial needed is green hydrogen produced in an electrolysis process • In Singapore, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, a pilot plant with a minimum capacity of 50,000 t/y is converting biogenic CO 2 into green e-methanol under a multi-national partnership. New commercial e-methanol plants are under develop- ment, and key projects are: • In China’s Henan Province, the world’s first commer - cial-scale CO 2 -to-methanol plant started production in November 2022. Hydrogen byproduct from steelmaking is catalytically combined with 160,000 tons of CO 2 captured from mineral lime production. The plant is expected to make 110,000 t/y • A project in Norway is planned with 80,000 t/y e-meth- anol production capacity. The CO 2 will be captured from a ferrosilicon plant, and H 2 will be produced by electrolysis • Project Air in Sweden is creating a large-scale 200,000 t/y sustainable methanol plant. It uses carbon capture and utilisation for converting CO 2 , residue streams, green hydrogen, and biomethane into methanol • A project in France by Vicat is planning a 200,000 t/y e-methanol production capacity. The CO 2 will be captured from a cement plant, and hydrogen will be produced by electrolysis • Icelandic utility HS Orka has announced plans to utilise geothermal energy in Iceland to produce green methanol. The programme comprises two key phases, with an initial 30 MW input, followed by a second, larger phase devoted to the production of green hydrogen • A green methanol complex in Belgium. Apart from the

North-C methanol project, a second one at the Proman methanol plant will use green hydrogen to convert the col- lected CO 2 emissions of major local industrial players • Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has devel - oped a new solvent system 5 that snatches CO 2 molecules before they are emitted, then converts them into useful, sellable substance like methanol. Methanol outlook There is an emerging market for sustainable methanol today, and the demand will increase with a healthy pace of applications developing in the marine, biofuels, and chemi- cals markets. The shipping industry accounts for nearly 3% of the world’s CO 2 emissions. As the sector is under grow- ing pressure to reduce its carbon footprint, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has already envisaged a reduction in carbon intensity and committed that interna- tional shipping should halve the GHG emissions by 2050 (based on 2008 levels) to meet Paris Agreement targets. Methanol is increasingly viewed as an accessible solution to enable emission reductions and meet sustainability targets of the marine sector. Shipping companies, like Maersk, have successfully proven that methanol is a viable fuel. To boost the global production capacity of green methanol, Maersk4 is entering strategic partnerships with six leading companies with the intent of sourcing green methanol at scale across several regions around the globe, at least 730,000 t/y by the end of 2025. Maersk is also planning additional green methanol in US and Spain, as below: • In the US, Red River Energy’s existing bioethanol plant in South Dakota will have a production capacity of approxi - mately 100,000 t/y green methanol, and the commercial start is anticipated in 2027 • Spain is exploring the possibility of setting up large-scale green methanol production plants. In the first phase, the facility will aim to produce 200,000 t/y by 2025. In the sec- ond phase, the production will be ramped up to 1 million t/y by 2027, and finally, in the third phase, the production will be increased to 2 million t/y by 2030 • Green methanol from multiple facilities to be developed by SunGas in the US from which Maersk intends to offtake full volumes of green methanol. The first facility is expected to begin operations in 2026 and has an annual production capacity of approximately 390,000 t/y. Methanol as a fuel can be used by itself or in a blend with gasoline. Methanol, because of its high-octane rating, can be used as an additive or substitute for gasoline in internal combustion engines. Methanol has about half the volumet- ric energy density of gasoline. Several countries have set compulsory blending targets to increase the renewable component of fuel gradually. Bio-methanol can provide additional volumes of fuel to help meet these targets. Fossil fuel-derived (black) methanol is widely used within the chemical industry to create a variety of prod- ucts, from paints to clothes to bottles. Green methanol can directly replace black methanol to help de-fossilise the chemical industry and enable it to provide more sustain- able products.

Gas 2023