The Middle East, Europe, North America and other regions have launched green methanol production plans, and related projects have been implemented in succession around the world
The Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources recently announced that it has reached a green methanol production project cooperation with Norway, and the two parties will invest 450 million US dollars. Once the project is completed, it is expected to become the first green methanol production project in Egypt and the entire Middle East. In fact, in addition to the Middle East, Europe, North America and other regions have also launched green methanol production plans, not only investing in research and development of green methanol production technology, but also actively exploring green methanol application scenarios.
Projects related to green methanol have been successively implemented around the world.
In the second half of last year, the global shipping giant Maersk reached a cooperation agreement with the Egyptian government. The Egyptian government stated that it will invest 15 billion US dollars in the production of green and clean marine fuel. In the same year, Maersk also signed a memorandum of understanding on green marine fuel with the Jordanian government. In addition, energy companies in Spain, Singapore, the United States and other countries are also actively planning green methanol-related projects.
There are various indications that the global green methanol market is expected to usher in rapid expansion.
According to Egypt's "Pyramid" report, Egypt's Alexandria National Refining and Petrochemical Company has reached a cooperation agreement with Norwegian renewable energy developer Skatek, and plans to build a green methanol production plant in Damietta Port, Egypt.
According to the public statement issued by the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, the green methanol production project will be equipped with a photovoltaic power station with an installed capacity of 40,000 kilowatts and a wind farm with a power generation capacity of 120,000 kilowatts, as well as a seawater desalination plant and a methanol fuel storage station, and will be equipped with a green hydrogen production capacity of 60 megawatts. The Egyptian government emphasized that the completion of the green methanol production project will bring new export opportunities to the Egyptian chemical industry and help Egypt become a global supplier of green fuel for ships.
Or become a decarbonization weapon
Compared with the use of traditional fossil fuels to produce methanol, green methanol production often uses renewable energy such as wind and rain, and the carbon emissions generated in the whole process are negligible.
Green methanol production is the main measure for Egypt to achieve green and low-carbon development. Since 2022, the Egyptian government has announced a series of energy and climate policies to vigorously promote energy transition. The "Comprehensive and Sustainable Energy Strategy 2035" formulated by the Egyptian government shows that by 2035, Egypt's renewable energy power generation will increase to 42%. In May last year, the Egyptian government released the "National Climate Strategy 2050", which proposed to reduce the country's carbon emissions and increase the use of renewable energy. Green hydrogen and green methanol are low-carbon energy sources that are favored.
Pierskog, chairman of SKATEC, said that the development of the green methanol industry will boost Egypt's economic growth and help Egypt become a producer and exporter of green chemical products and a distribution center for the production and distribution of green fuels in the global shipping industry. The global green methanol market has been heating up significantly. In order to achieve the established climate goals, the EU needs to vigorously promote the decarbonization of the maritime transportation sector, and green methanol is its chosen decarbonization weapon.
The market potential needs to be tapped
Although the current production cost of green methanol is still higher than that of traditional methanol, the production of green methanol is expected to increase significantly due to policy stimulus and capital investment. The International Renewable Energy Agency has predicted that by 2050, the supply of green methanol is expected to reach 385 million tons.
At the same time, the downstream application scenarios of green methanol are also expanding. The global demand for green methanol has shown a growth trend, especially for the shipping industry, green methanol has become an alternative to fossil fuels.
Methanes, the world's largest methanol producer, predicts that in the next five years, the global demand for methanol will increase by 14 million tons per year, mainly due to green methanol. According to the latest data released by Det Norske Veritas, by the end of March, 25 methanol fueled ships had been put into operation around the world, and 81 new methanol fueled ships had placed orders.