Japan’s Sumitomo, Shimane University accelerate methanol synthesis research

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical and Shimane University will accelerate their joint research on synthesizing methanol from carbon dioxide (CO2), as carbon-cycle technologies are being pursued to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and address the urgent issue of climate change.

The research will focus on a method that will have a methanol yield “ideal for practical implementation”.

They intend to complete a “highly efficient methanol manufacturing process and establishing the carbon cycle based on the resources of carbon dioxide and used plastics,” Sumitomo and Shimane University stated in a joint statement.

Methanol would be created by combining CO2 generated from the incineration of waste with hydrogen derived from renewable energy.

“In addition, because methanol can also be produced from syngas (a mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide), it is also possible to convert used plastics and biomass resources from a region into syngas, and use that gas as the raw material for the production of methanol, thereby creating a complete carbon cycle,” they said.

A novel process technology developed by Kohji Omata, professor of at Shimane’s interdisciplinary faculty of science and engineering, could overcome challenges of low methanol yield and catalysts degradation.

Methanol is widely used in adhesives, drugs, coating materials and synthetic resins, among others, with an annual global demand estimated at about 80m tonnes/year.

The industrial gas is currently manufactured from fossil resources, mainly natural and coal gases, through several manufacturing processes under high temperatures and high pressures.

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