Methane No More
A Korean research team succeeded in developing an eco-friendly technology to turn CO2 and methane, which are considered to be main culprits in drastic climate change like global warming, into chemical materials essential for industry and everyday life.
The Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT) announced on June 16 that it held an opening ceremony for a methanol-manufacturing plant at Hyundai Oilbank's headquarters in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, and successfully operated test runs together with the nation's fourth-largest refiner.
The methanol production process technology developed by a team led by Dr. Jeon Ki-won at KRICT can produce synthetic gases by putting CO2, methane, and water vapor into a synthetic gas reactor and injecting a catalyst. It is possible to produce methanol from synthetic gases manufactured in this way.
The new methanol plant with a daily production capacity of 10 tons is ready for commercialization. Once it is commercialized, it will be possible to locally process more than 1 million tons of methanol each year, instead of importing it.
The existing production process requires a lot of money and energy to extract oxygen from the air and react it with methane. However, the newly-developed method makes it possible to produce methanol at a low cost and energy using CO2 and methane.
In particular, the technology uses over 95 percent of injected CO2 in the chemical reaction, thereby improving energy efficiency. Compared to the existing production process, the new method can also reduce the amount of CO2 emissions by 30 percent.
The KRICT and Hyundai Oilbank are planning to accumulate experience by running the plant and to design another plant capable of producing 1 million tons of methanol per year.