Using CO2 and water to create renewable ‘green’ methanol

In Germany, chemists and engineers at Ruhr University Bochum and Creative Quantum are developing a chemical factory the size of a container that produces methanol from water, carbon dioxide and renewable energies in a highly efficient manner.

In a few years, small and medium-sized companies as well as regional suppliers should be able to produce methanol in a decentralized and environmentally friendly manner.

The startup Creative Quantum heads the research association, which also includes RUB, the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis, the startup Ineratec and the Bitterfeld-Wolfen Chemical Park. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy has been funding the project since November 1, 2020 for three years with a total of 2 million euros.

The planned chemical plant should show that methanol can be produced from sustainable sources by orders of magnitude faster and more energy-efficiently than before. Another goal is to produce methanol at competitive prices in places where cheap electricity meets local CO 2 emissions. For example, wind power and waste incineration plants or solar energy and biogas plants could be merged for a new added value that leads to a sustainable source of raw materials for the chemical industry.