CRI will build second Chinese plant to produce methanol from industrial emissions

CARBON Recycling International (CRI) has agreed to design a plant to produce methanol from captured carbon dioxide for Chinese chemicals producer Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemicals.

CRI’s Emissions to Liquids technology catalytically converts captured carbon dioxide and hydrogen into methanol. Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemicals’ new plant will recycle 150,000 t/y of CO2 and 20,000 t/y of hydrogen produced from other onsite processes to produce around 100,000 t/y of methanol. The plant will be built in Lianyungang, in the Jiangsu province on the east coast of China, where it will be integrated into the company’s 15 km² Shenghong petrochemical industrial park. The methanol will be used to replace fossil fuel-sourced methanol in the production of a range of polymers and plastics used to manufacture products including solar panels.

The plant is expected to cost around US$35m and is scheduled to begin operations in 2023.

Ingolfur Gudmundsson, CEO of CRI, said: “By utilising waste and byproduct resources in an innovative way we can take the necessary steps to reduce emissions and replace traditional fossil fuels in the production of most of our consumer products.”

CRI began operating its process at a production scale of 4,000 t/y at a plant in Iceland in 2012. It’s first commercial-scale facility is set to come online early next year, producing 110,000 t/y of methanol from a coke oven gas production facility in Anyang city in Henan Province, China.