Regenerative methanol production and the real opportunities for CO2 reduction.
Dear Community,
Once again, the last hydrogen contribution was very well received. Thank you very much for the positive feedback!
What technical topic is close to your hearts that should be looked at more closely?
Today we are talking about the real opportunity to achieve rapid success in climate change and a practice that is already being used on a large scale today.
Methanolalso known to many perhaps as wood alcohol, is the simplest alcohol in chemistry.
Brief general background:
Methanol is a clear, colorless, flammable liquid with a typical alcoholic odor. It consists of carbon C, hydrogen H and oxygen O. Total CH3OH in chemical structural formula.
Methanol is notorious for being formed during alcoholic fermentation. However, it is better known through incidents of vacationers who enjoyed moonshine in southern vacation countries and subsequently had to struggle with signs of cloudiness or complete loss of eyesight. The human body processes methanol to the well-known formaldehyde, formerly contained in wall paints.
This results in the property therefore that with the alcoholic fermentation process mainly methanol, ethanol, thus the consumption alcohol and water develop. It is imperative that this mixture is properly separated!
Natural occurrence:
Methanol occurs naturally just as little as hydrogen. It is also always bound. It is contained in cotton plants, fruits and grasses in minimal concentrations, so that its extraction, i.e. separation, is not worthwhile.
What is methanol currently used for?
Methanol is an important raw material in the chemical industry. Important for us stock exchange traders above all the resulting synthesis to biodiesel or MTBE, the anti-knock agent for gasoline engines. Methanol also has the potential to generate electrical energy in a fuel cell, similar to hydrogen, but with even lower efficiency.
Historical background:
Methanol is again something typically German ...
In 1913, BASF was granted $BAS (-0,2 %) received a patent for a process to produce methanol. The basic material for this came from coal gasification. This process later became known as the "Winkler process". The principle behind it is the gasification of lignite by adding steam and air.
In the triumphant advance of natural gas, however, this process was superseded. Rightly so, because this process is extremely harmful to the environment and health. However, it is still used in China and South Africa.
In 1923, large-scale production began at the Leuna plants.
Something to think about: Today, by the way, only a tiny fraction of the global demand is produced in Germany. This production has been distributed mainly to Caribbean countries, as well as Latin America and, of course, China. Perhaps this is also a dependency that should be kept in mind, especially with regard to Chile and Argentina? During the last visit of our chancellor, Chile has found clear words on which side one would stand in case of a conflict between the USA and China ...
Production and chances for a fast CO2 reduction:
Quite simply, so that we can finally focus in the future speculations and applications of the future.
To produce methanol, you need carbon monoxide CO or carbon dioxide CO2.
With the addition of hydrogen H2, a mixture of dimethyl ether, the propellant in hair and paint spray, ethanol, i.e. pleasure alcohol, and methanol is produced in a reactor. This is thermally separated downstream.
But what does all this have to do with CO2 reduction, and why would we have such a good chance of rapid success here?
In the following, I refer mainly to the second reaction type, where CO2 and H2 are used, but I omit hydrogen, because this is a topic on its own and one could certainly explain the processes for H2 production in more detail, which again speak for an overvaluation of hydrogen.
Carbon dioxide CO2:
This greenhouse gas is an important feedstock for the methanol process. It is currently produced conventionally via steam reforming, i.e. H2 generation, and via partial oxidation, i.e. partial combustion.
There are strong efforts by the industry to make this process usable in order to greatly improve its own CO2 balance. The pioneers, in terms of investment, are above all Totalenergies $TTE (-0,19 %) and Thyssenkrupp $TKA (-0,31 %) . In the future, waste gases from the process are to be made usable and thus not released into the environment. Both oil refining and steel production produce huge amounts of CO2.
A second method of acting more sustainably would be the so-called CCU process, Carbon Capture and Utilization or CO2 utilization. In this process, gases containing CO2 are "filtered" from the air, compressed and thus made usable again for industrial purposes. Many industrial giants have adopted this method. Among them are the stock market darlings of RWE $RWE (-0,22 %) , OMV $OMV (-0,4 %) , HeidelbergMaterials $HEI (-0,2 %) and many more. The methodology became known on the stock exchange through the speculative share Aker CC $ACC (-0,19 %) .
The products from the process and the opportunities:
This hides real opportunities that are still trading far below their application area on the stock market, as the majority focus on electric and hydrogen.
Methanol:
Methanol is and will always be an important basic material for the chemical industry! The downstream products of formaldehyde and acetic acid, as well as their further processing, are too important for our modern way of life. In the beginning there is always methanol!
The entire range of M-fuels, which were already tested in the 80s, are methanol mixtures and are even permitted in the EU.
MAN, the VW subsidiary $VOW (-0,33 %) and the shipbuilding division HD-Hyundais $267250 have been cooperating for a long time on large engines running on methanol. Especially for the shipping industry. In the industry also gave $MAERSK B (-0,16 %) other large orders.
Indy cars in the USA and dragsters are powered by methanol.
Methanol produces significantly lower emissions than diesel and gasoline, and at the same time can be produced at near net zero, as described above.
The biggest methanol producers are Petronas $PCHEM , Methanex $MX (-0,28 %) and Mitsui $8031 (+3,97 %) .
Fuel cell:
A modified fuel cell can run on methanol. It is even more inefficient than hydrogen. But offers the advantage that you don't have to change methanol's state of aggregation to make it usable.
Of course, the downside to all the greatness of methanol is that to make truly "green" methanol, you would also have to use "green" hydrogen.
This is a complex issue that SFC Energy $F3C (-0,48 %) promised to address it.
Biodiesel:
The best-known downstream product of methanol is biodiesel. Last year on the stock market mainly through Verbio $VBK (-0,32 %) and CropEnergies $CE2 extremely high on the market.
At present, these are still subject to blending with fossil fuels, resulting in corresponding margins for biofuel producers.
DME, dimethyl ether:
Dimethyl ether is the hottest candidate as a diesel successor. Here, even small modifications can ensure operation. But why isn't this being done? The problem here is political, as it is only permitted as a biofuel if it is produced exclusively from biomass. One could therefore possibly rely here on a growing biogas market with regard to Envitec $ETG (-0,32 %) , Engie $ENGI (-0,19 %) , Greenvolts $GVOLT (-0,48 %) or similar. Whereby the use of biogas certainly offers better application possibilities than a diesel substitute.
Postscript:
The follow-on products should only illustrate once again the importance and the enormous market that methanol can bring as a raw material and energy carrier. If we now put this in relation to the market capitalizations with hydrogen shares, we should now speculate about whether hydrogen is valued too highly or whether methanol is perhaps weighted much too low according to its use.
What do you think?
Do you have any suggestions, questions or wishes?
