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Tag 4

Is Green Methanol the missing piece for the Energy Transition?

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Science

In an accelerating climate crisis, renewable energy and electrification are the most important tools to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, in sectors where electrification is infeasible or impossible, other solutions will be needed. While hydrogen gets a lot of attention, it suffers from challenges like being difficult to transport and store. While it does not receive nearly as much attention as hydrogen, another molecule, methanol, could play a crucial role in bringing down emissions in challenging sectors like shipping, aviation, or the chemical industry.

Methanol is the simplest carbon-containing liquid and is currently almost exclusively made from fossil fuels. However, it could be made by utilizing renewable energy, green hydrogen, and carbon dioxide, and such green methanol could play an important role in a climate-neutral future - both as a fuel and as a chemical feedstock[1].

Methanol is relatively easy to store and transport. It could provide energy during times with little sun and wind and possibly even balance multi-year fluctuations [2][3]. It could also serve as a shipping fuel and, indirectly, help make aviation fuels. Furthermore, it could form the basis of a fossil-free production of chemical products like plastics [4][5]. That raises important questions about stranded assets in today's chemical industry, as the existing plastic production with steam crackers could become obsolete.

Despite its prospects, methanol is no magic silver bullet. Making it from CO2 requires enormous amounts of energy. It should be used carefully and only where efficient direct electrification is infeasible (no methanol car, sorry). Alternative production pathways using climate-friendly biomass and waste have turned out to be challenging in the past, but they could lower some of the enormous energy needs.

[1] https://industrydecarbonization.com/news/from-coal-enabler-to-the-minimal-green-methanol-economy.html [2] https://www.cell.com/joule/abstract/S2542-4351(23)00407-5 [3] https://industrydecarbonization.com/news/should-we-burn-methanol-when-the-wind-does-not-blow.html [4] https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1821029116 [5] https://industrydecarbonization.com/news/how-to-make-plastics-without-fossil-fuels.html