Haldor Topsoe will build a 10 kg/hour methanol plant to demonstrate the company’s electrified, compact eSMR MethanolTM technology for the production of sustainable methanol from biogas. “We look forward to repeating the very promising results we have achieved in the laboratory at an industrial scale. We want to show that sustainable methanol can be produced from biogas at a cost similar to that of traditional methanol produced from fossil fuels. The eSMR MethanolTM technology is about 100 times smaller than the traditional units, which makes it a very attractive solution for decentral biogas sites and world scale producers alike,” says Peter Mølgaard Mortensen, Principal Scientist at Haldor Topsoe. Today, biogas in grid quality is much costlier to produce than the natural gas it replaces. If biogas producers can produce sustainable methanol instead, they will be able to increase their production value significantly and compete on commercial terms with fossil-based products. Methanol is used as a clean fuel or an important intermediary in the production of many chemicals and polymers (plastics). The eSMR Methanol™ process is CO2-neutral when based on biogas as feedstock and green electricity for heating. It even utilises the CO2 that makes up about 40% of biogas and typically is costly to separate and vent in production of grid quality biogas. eSMR Methanol™ is based on Topsoe’s eSMR™ technology that was published in the Science magazine recently. The groundbreaking technology produces synthesis gas (syngas), an essential building block in production of polymers and chemicals. It may reduce the traditional steam reforming unit found in most chemical plants from the size of a six-story building, 30 m in length, to just a few cubic meters. The compact technology replaces the natural gas-fired heating of traditional steam reformers with direct electric heating of the catalytic process. “We see the electrified reactor as the next logical step for the chemical industry. With this approach, producers get a viable way to transform the industry going towards greener processes without increasing production cost,” says Peter Mølgaard Mortensen. Haldor Topsøe is leading the eSMR Methanol™ project, which includes the partners Aarhus University, Sintex A/S, Blue World Technology ApS, Technical University of Denmark, Energinet A/S, Aalborg University, and PlanEnergi. The project is supported by the EUDP Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program. Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/clean-fuels/16072019/topsoe-to-build-demonstration-plant-to-produce-co2-neutral-methanol/ Embed article link: (copy the HTML code below):
Haldor Topsoe has announced plans to build a plant to demonstrate its technology for creating methanol from biogas. The company said it wants to show how the eSMR Methanol system, powered by wind or solar energy, can compete with equivalent fossil fuel-based processes. The 10 kg/hr demonstration plant will be at Denmark’s Aarhus University with funding from the Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Programme. “Denmark is one of the most advanced countries in Europe when it comes to renewable energy production, but we are lagging behind other countries,” says Topsoe. The plant should be operational from 2022.