Is Green Methanol the missing piece for the Energy Transition?

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Hanno Böck

Climate Change

Refinery: İsa Karakuş, Public Domain, Flood: Czach, CC0

Technologies to fix our emission problem

Step 1

Clean Electricity

Step 2

Electrify (almost) Everything

Step 3

Deal with the rest

Steel plant: Aimelaime/Public Domain, Ship: Bernard Spragg, Public Domain, Plastics: stevepb, CC0

Green Hydrogen

Problems with Hydrogen (incomplete)

Today, almost entirely made from fossil fuels
Green Hydrogen requires lots of clean energy
Difficult to transport and store

The Hydrogen Economy and its Difficulties

Whereas it is indeed clean burning to form water, its generation is a highly energy-consuming process, which itself is not necessarily clean. [...]

The volumetric power density of liquid hydrogen is also a drawback at only one-third of that of gasoline [...]

Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy (George A. Olah, 2005)

Methanol (CH₃OH, MeOH)

Simplest carbon-containing liquid
Primarily used as a chemical feedstock

Methanol Production Today

CO₂ emissions during production and after use

E-Methanol

George Olah Renewable Methanol Plant (Iceland, since 2009)
Carbon Recycling International

What could we do with E-Methanol?

Renewables and Intermittency

Storage

Established technologies (pumped hydro, batteries) not suitable for long-duration storage

Long-Duration Energy Storage

Hydrogen?

Remember: Hydrogen is difficult to store and transport

Ultra-long-duration energy storage anywhere: Methanol with carbon cycling (Tom Brown, Johannes Hampp, Joule, 2023)

Long-Duration Energy Storage with Methanol and Carbon Cycling

Slightly less efficient than hydrogen, but sometimes cheaper
Multi-year storage possible
Based on Open-Source model (PyPSA)

https://github.com/PyPSA/methanol-uldes

NOAA, Public Domain

Shipping

Around 4% of CO₂ emissions

Nor-Shipping, CC-by 3.0

Battery-electric ships are great, but not for long distances

Climate-neutral shipping fuels

E-Methanol or E-Ammonia

Ammonia

No carbon needed, but very toxic/dangerous

Masur, Public Domain

Shipping with Methanol

Stena Line, CC-by 3.0

Alf van Beem, Public Domain

👍

Maersk has ordered Methanol/dual-fuel ships and has invested in multiple companies developing Green Methanol technology

👎

In 2024, Maersk started ordering LNG-powered ships again (fossil gas)

Plastics

stevepb, CC0

Plastics are (made from) fossil fuels

Olefins

Ethylene and Propylene

Olefins / Plastics production

Mark Dixon, Public Domain

Steam Cracker (Oil/Gas)

There is another way to make plastics

Olefins/Plastics from Coal

Mao Ye et al, CC-by 2.0

Green Plastics

Option 1: Steam Cracker with Green Naphtha (e.g., from Fischer-Tropsch)

Option 2: Methanol-to-Olefins with Green Methanol

Steam Cracker or Methanol-to-Olefins

With green feedstocks, Methanol-to-Olefins is more efficient and requires less hydrogen, CO₂, and energy

Chemistry4Climate, 2023, VCI (German Chemical Industry Association)

Carbon Recycling International, September 2023

So we can use Green Methanol to store energy, clean up shipping, and make fossil-free plastics.

Sounds great, right?

Let's talk about some downsides

None of this is going to be easy

Ørsted/Liquid Wind

FlagshipONE (Ørsted)

50,000 t/a E-Methanol

Cancelled in August 2024

Green Methanol at scale is not going to happen without strong policy support

Energy

Turning low-energy molecules like water and CO₂ into a high-energy molecule like Methanol requires a lot of energy

Chemical Industry based on E-Methanol

17 - 32 Petawatt hours ⚡

(🌎⚡ 29 Petawatt hours)

Kätelhön et al, PNAS, 2019

CO₂ Source

I also call it the "Holcim model"

(plan for Lägerdorf cement plant)

Fossil or otherwise "new" CO₂ emission sources are not climate-neutral

Biogenic CO₂

Yes, with caveats

Direct Air capture

Expensive

Green Methanol will remain scarce and expensive, don't waste it when better alternatives exist

Inefficient use of Green Methanol

Even more inefficient use of Green Methanol

Siemens, Porsche, HIF

Do we have other ways to make Green Methanol?

Tom Brown on Bluesky, October 2023

Biomethanol

Multiple pathways (biogas, paper mills), usual caveats with bioenergy apply

We should talk about Trash

Albert Jankowski, Public Domain

Waste Incinerators are huge CO₂ emission sources

Fornaxianer, CC0

rainy day, CC0

Syngas could be used to make other chemicals

(e.g. Methanol)

Waste-to-Methanol / Chemical Recycling

SVZ Schwarze Pumpe, Germany, 1995 - 2007 (coal/waste)

Enerkem Edmonton, Canada, 2015 - 2024

Waste Gasification could solve multiple problems

Avoid emissions / circular carbon use
Recycling and upcycling of otherwise unrecyclable waste
CO₂ source

Waste Gasification has been tried again and again, and it usually fails

Waste Gasification only works in Japan

Gasification of biomass and waste could provide a less energy-intensive way to make Green Methanol

Bringing it all together

How is Green Methanol doing today?

E-Methanol plant in Kassø, Denmark, by European Energy, under construction

32,000 t/a capacity

In other 2024 Green Methanol News

Goldwind broke ground for 500,000 t/a Bio/E-Methanol plant in Inner Mongolia (China), offtake agreement with Maersk
Carbon Recycling International signs agreements for two E-Methanol plants in China (100,000 t/a, 170,000 t/a)
Geely broke groud for a 100,000 t/a E-Methanol plant in Inner Mongolia (China), 500,000 t/a planned
Clariant announces it will deliver catalyst for 250,000 t/a Biomass-Gasification-to-Methanol plant in China
Hapag-Lloyd signs offtake agreement with Goldwind for 250,000 t/a Bio- and E-methanol

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Hanno Böck