China Plans Renewable Methanol Production from Recycled Carbon Dioxide to Support Solar Panels Manufacture

A memorandum of understanding has been signed between China’s petrochemical major, Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical Co. Ltd. and Iceland’s renewable methanol producer, Carbon Recycling International (CRI), to build a project in China for recycling emitted carbon dioxide to produce methanol which is a key raw material for manufacturing solar panel materials. The project, attracting an investment of USD 35 million, is scheduled to commence operation in 2023 under the ownership of Jiangsu Sailboat. The facility will be built in the 15 km² Shenghong Petrochemical Industrial Park in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province.

The waste carbon dioxide-to-methanol unit set to be installed will exploit CRI’s proprietary ‘Emissions to Liquid’ technology that will enable the generation of 100 KT methanol annually by recycling 150 KT of carbon dioxide and 20 KT of hydrogen released from other onsite processes. The projected annual recycled volume of carbon dioxide in the planned facility is estimated to be comparable with the removal of 53,000 fossil-fuelled cars from the roads.

The traditional steam reforming method for methanol production from fossil fuel feedstocks like coal or natural gas results in the release of greenhouse gases to the environment. On the contrary, green methanol produced without the use of fossil fuels will save up to 550 KT emissions per year. Methanol generated from the planned facility will be predominantly utilized in Jiangsu Sailboat’s existing polymers and plastics facility that provides materials for making solar panels and plexiglass.

As per ChemAnalyst, the proposed project has both environmental and economic importance. The project marks the transformation of methanol to a circular economy in China, which will be highly advantageous in reducing the country’s carbon footprint. Further, the addition of green methanol capacity in China is expected to satisfy its rising demand in the end-user industries thereby bringing stabilization in methanol prices in future.