Methanol has a potential role in enabling the hydrogen economy as the versatile chemical can double up as a dense hydrogen carrier—effectively allowing hydrogen to be used in transport while sidestepping the complexity and high cost of storing and transporting it, according to speakers at the World Methanol Conference.

Hydrogen’s promise as a transport fuel is undermined by its low energy density compared to conventional fuels and the logistical challenges of handling it as a gas. But methanol on a molecular level is four parts hydrogen to one part oxygen and one part carbon—meaning the industrial alcohol packs more hydrogen in a given volume than hydrogen itself—and is liquid at ambient temperature and pressure.

Methanol can be turned into hydrogen through a relatively straightforward catalytic process using a fuel reformer, while the global availability of infrastructure for methanol trade would support its application as a hydrogen carrier. This presents a potential scenario where methanol is reformed into hydrogen for fuel cell electric vehicles at the point of use, eliminating the need to transport and store hydrogen itself.

“Already today we have internal combustion engines that we can upgrade… and immediately switch to a clean fuel” Wranik, BSE Methanol

“There are programs across the world to implement the hydrogen economy via methanol. Methanol gets imported and reformed [into hydrogen]. It is the perfect carrier of hydrogen,” said Sten Wranik, managing director of Germany-based BSE Methanol.

Methanol could conceivably kickstart hydrogen economies in markets that lack the requisite infrastructure but have renewable energy resources. Bio- or e-methanol could be produced and then converted into hydrogen on demand.

Engine upgrade

Interest in the methanol pathway to hydrogen is being spurred by market demand that wants to leverage the infrastructure and technology for existing fuels.

“Already today we have internal combustion engines that we can upgrade… and immediately switch to a clean fuel, making a contribution to the de-fossilisation of the transport sector immediately,” says Wranik.

“In Germany, this will affect roughly 50mn cars. How can you do that with hydrogen?” he continues. As such, there could be a case to be made for low-carbon methanol as an interim solution for decarbonising transportation while the hydrogen economy builds momentum.

The methanol-to-hydrogen pathway for decarbonising transportation would have the advantage of not requiring exotic or expensive materials that pose a supply chain risk for electric vehicles, such as cobalt and lithium for batteries.

“In the end, many alternatives and different solutions will go together here, it’s not just one,” said Aram Pedinian Mohr, commercial manager at Chilean e-fuels company Highly Innovative Fuels.

“Europe will need imports of energy, that’s for sure. You cannot replace all the fossil energy that you’re importing into Europe with electricity,” he notes. “We need to import somehow and the only way right now is through liquids, not through hydrogen. That’s something that will come in the future, but not in the short term, so you need the contribution of other alternatives.”

Fuel cell technology to facilitate methanol-to-hydrogen is already in progress. Blue World Technologies from Denmark has developed a methanol fuel cell that takes in the chemical and converts it into hydrogen, which is then used to generate electricity. The fuel cell can be used in passenger cars, lorries and ships.

The company is building a factory in Aalborg that will be able to produce 50MW worth of fuel cells annually next year, scaling up to 500MW a few years later, according to chief commercial officer and cofounder Mads Friis Jensen.

---

Author: Shi Weijun