Mitsui, Celanese joint venture starts CO2-to-methanol production

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Home Clean Fuel Mitsui, Celanese joint venture starts CO2-to-methanol production

January 15, 2024,
by

Aida Čučuk

Fairway Methanol, a U.S.-based 50-50 joint venture (JV) between Japan’s Mitsui & Co. and U.S. Celanese Corporation, has begun the production of methanol by using carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from plants surrounding the venture’s facility.

Courtesy of Mitsui & Co.

According to Mitsui, Fairway Methanol is expected to capture 180 thousand metric tons of CO2 and produce 130 thousand metric tons of low-carbon methanol per year, which leads its annual production capacity to 1.63 million metric tons per year.

This methanol production, using industry-derived CO2, is one of the carbon capture and utilization (CCU) projects that Mitsui has undertaken.

The concept behind these projects considers CO2 as a resource that can be reused as a raw material, thus realizing carbon recycling and helping to reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, Mitsui said, adding that this project provides the company with another low-carbon solution in its methanol business portfolio, following the bio-methanol production at Fairway Methanol and the e-methanol production at Solar Park Kasso, Denmark.

To remind, Mitsui agreed to agreed to acquire a stake in European Energy’s solar park and e-methanol production facility Kasso in Denmark back in the summer of 2023.

Kasso’s e-methanol is a low-carbon methanol produced by synthesizing green hydrogen made by feeding renewable-based electricity into an electrolyzer and green carbon dioxide (CO2) captured from biomass sources, and its e-methanol business produces up to 42,000 tons of e-methanol annually.