CIRCULAR™ waste to methanol technology
Waste is a source of valuable carbon and hydrogen that can be transformed into methanol. This reduces the amount of waste destined to landfill and incineration and replaces natural gas and coal-based feedstocks, enabling the production of more sustainable fuels and chemicals with a lower carbon footprint.
With the aim of driving sustainability, we have teamed up with NextChem's MyRechemical to license a waste to methanol solution that integrates NextChem’s waste-to-chemical technology, developed by MyRechemical, with Johnson Matthey’s well proven methanol synthesis technology and high-performance catalysts.
The process uses municipal and industrial waste that cannot be mechanically recycled as the feedstock, and it chemically recycles it into synthesis gas via a partial oxidation process. The synthesis gas is then purified and conditioned, transformed into methanol and distilled to the required purity level. It can then go on to be converted into sustainable fuels and chemicals.
CIRCULAR waste-to-methanol integrated technology
Innovation in sustainable methanol
Using our unrivalled expertise and know-how, we have optimised the design of the methanol synthesis loop and combined it with our highly robust methanol synthesis catalyst, which remains stable, despite the many additional impurities found in waste material. This results in sustained, high feedstock efficiency, that enables our clients to get the most out of the waste feedstock and make more methanol for longer.
The process can incorporate green hydrogen, which approximately doubles the amount of methanol that can be produced with the same quantity of waste, eliminates the conditioning step, and reduces the carbon intensity even further.
The methanol synthesis loop is also able to receive renewable syngas obtained from the gasification of biomass or organic waste to produce bio-methanol.
As an alternative fuel, renewable methanol will enable the decarbonisation of the maritime industry and the production of bio-gasoline and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), providing a low-carbon intensity solution to many transport sectors.
