The International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) published a status and future report on renewable methanol, an alcohol used in the chemical industry and as a fuel.
Its high production cost derives from biomass, hydrogen, and CO2 from renewable sources. For this reason, e-methanol is now uncompetitive with conventional methanol. However, Irena’s report gives a series of guidelines to make it competitive before 2050.
E-methanol production costs
Only one percent of the methanol produced worldwide is of renewable origin.
“Recognize that renewable methanol can contribute to carbon neutrality in green deals, Covid-19 related economic recovery packages and hydrogen strategies”. This is one of the six key recommendations made by Irena in the Innovation outlook report. Renewable methanol.
The rest of the recommendations are about investment guarantees. That is to say, to recognize from different sectors its low carbon intensity condition, to establish regulatory measures and public support policies. Finally, “to foster international cooperation with commercial strategies to create jobs and promote new competitive e-methanol industries. Both in producing and consuming regions”.
According to the Study of the macroeconomic impact of renewable energies in Spain by the Association of Renewable Energy Companies, in 2019 a small amount of biomethanol (1,870 tons) destined for transport was accounted for the first time. This is a tiny figure compared to the 123,700 tons of biodiesel, hence the need, as stated by Irena, to move towards greater market penetration.
Renewable methanol in transportation
Worldwide, according to Irena’s study, less than 200,000 tons of renewable methanol are produced annually. This represents only one percent of all methanol produced, which is mainly obtained from gas (65 percent) and coal (35 percent).
The report recalls that right now non-renewable methanol is used to move vehicles of all types. “China currently consumes 4.8 million tons of methanol per year for road transport. The country is attracting growing interest in other parts of the world, including Israel, India, and Europe. It is also useful for other applications such as trains and heavy machinery,” the Irena paper states.
Without leaving China, they similarly claim that “because methanol does not produce soot, fumes or odors, it is also widely used in cooking stoves, with more than five million tons in 2018. It can also be used as a fuel to produce heat and steam in industrial boilers and for electric power generation in gas turbines” they note.
Versatile fuel by land and sea
Among the advantages they list is that “it is a versatile fuel that can be used in internal combustion engines and in hybrid and fuel cell vehicles and vessels. It is a liquid at ambient temperature and pressure, making it easy to store, transport, and distribute. It is also compatible with the existing distribution infrastructure and can be mixed with conventional fuels.
Now all that remains is the step proposed by Irena: producing it on a large scale also as a renewable. “The switch to this type, derived from biomass or synthesized from hydrogen and CO2 (both of renewable origin). Thus, the use of methanol as a chemical feedstock could be expanded; which would help to make industry and transportation fuels carbon neutral,” they warn.
Differences between biomethanol and e-methanol
Irena differentiates between biomethane and e-methanol. They detail that the former is produced from biomass, whose main sustainable raw materials include forestry and agricultural residues and by-products. It is also produced from biogas from landfills and wastewater treatment, municipal solid waste, and black liquor from the pulp and paper industry.
On the other hand, e-methanol is obtained using CO2 from renewable sources. For example, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and direct air capture (DAC), and green hydrogen. That is, hydrogen is produced with renewable electricity.
Examples of e-methanol production
In Spain, Tecnalia has already worked with methanol produced from CO2. Most recently, the European project MefCO2, of the Horizon 2020 program, managed to produce one ton of e-methanol per day. It was concluded that “being able to reduce the carbon footprint by synthesizing green methanol could have a significant impact on the global carbon economy”.
Furthermore, Irena’s forecasts of reaching 2050 with competitive renewable methanol were corroborated by the end of 2020. The conclusion was reached at a telematic conference organized by the Spanish Maritime Cluster. At the meeting, it was stated that “ammonia and carbon-neutral methanol will be dominant fuels in 2050 for maritime transport”.
Source: Energías Renovables (2022)