Energies 2023 , 16 , 280
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Figure6. Energy storage capacity and discharge time of different storage technologies [44] (published under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY license). 2.3. Renewable Methanol One of the most popular and important liquid chemicals used in producing daily products, including plastics, paints, cosmetics, and fuels, is methanol. Methanol produced from sustainable biomass (bio-methanol) or by reaction between captured CO 2 and renew- able electricity-based hydrogen (e-methanol) is typically referred to as renewable or green methanol, and it is a low carbon and net carbon neutral liquid chemical and fuel. Renewable methanol reduces CO 2 andNO x emissions by 95% and up to 80%, respectively, and elimi- nates SO x and PM emissions in contrast to traditional fuels [46]. Each year, approximately 98 Mt of methanol is produced, almost all of which is via fossil fuels (natural gas or coal). The amount of renewable methanol (mostly bio-methanol) produced yearly is less than 0.2 Mt. Life cycle emissions show that around 0.3 Gt of CO 2 production per year is recorded from the conventional methanol production and use, representing about 10% of the total chemical sector’s emissions [47]. More than 80 renewable methanol projects around the world are being tracked by the Methanol Institute, and they are projected to produce annually at least 8 MMT of renewable methanol by 2027. In the next five years, the capacity of individual renewable methanol plants is expected to rise from 5000–10,000 tonnes of methanol per year to 50,000–250,000 tonnes per year (see Figure 7a,b) [46]. Considering ongoing rates, methanol production could rise to 500 Mt per year by 2050 from today’s ~100 Mt. If the 500 Mt of methanol is sourced from fossil fuels, CO 2 emissions of 1.5 Gt will be released per year. To meet the 2050 production needs for methanol while adhering to net zero emission targets, about 80% of this production will come from renewable methanol (135 Mt and 250 Mt from bio-methanol and e-methanol, respectively (see Figure 8) [47].
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