Methanol is one of the most widely produced products from Syngas and accounts for the majority of coal to liquids projects in China.
Methanol production from Syngas is chemically very straight forward. The carbon monoxide and hydrogen react on a catalyst to produce methanol. The most widely used catalyst is a mixture of copper, zinc oxide, and alumina. At 5–10 MPa and 250 °C, it can catalyse the production of methanol from carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
CO + 2 H2 → CH3OH
The methane content of UCG Syngas is important for methanol production as it improves the hydrogen yield making up for any deficit in hydrogen in the syngas mix. Adding a methane reformer to the methanol plant and adding additional methane can also be used to offset CO2 by using the excess hydrogen in the following reaction
CO2 + 3 H2 → CH3OH + H2O
Because of its ease of handling Methanol is a very attractive and very clean energy carrier with a variety of uses as discussed below and easy transportability. George Olah a Nobel Prize winner has proposed methanol as an alternative to oil in a new "methanol economy".
Methanol is a fundamental industrial chemical and is a feedstock for a variety of industrial chemical plants including formaldehyde, formic acid, and acetic acid to name a few. The potential for methanol exists in new or under developed markets.
Methanol is very prospective as a gasoline blending agent and octane booster, and can be blended with petrol (gasoline) up to 85% producing a fuel which is high octane and produces more power in the same size engine.
Methanol is also a feedstock (replacing propylene sourced from oil) for a new generation of methanol to polyolefin technologies, producing a variety of plastics such as polypropylene.