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NTPC and Tecnimont sign MOU to explore possibility to develop Green Methanol Production.

Key Points

• The green methanol project involves capturing carbon from NTPC power plants and converting it into a green fuel.
• The objective of the partnership was to demonstrate technologies for firing a higher percentage of Torrefied Biomass in NTPC’s coal fired units, Methanol Firing and Ammonia Firing
• It is non-binding in nature.

Green Methanol

• Green methanol is a low-carbon fuel that can be made from either biomass gasification or renewable electricity and captured carbon dioxide (CO2).
• It is produced renewably and without polluting emissions, one of its variants being generated from green hydrogen.
• It can be used as a low-carbon liquid fuel and is a promising alternative to fossil fuels in areas where decarbonisation is a major challenge, such as maritime transport.

Applications

• Serving as a base material for the chemical industry
• Storing renewable electricity
• Transportation fuel
• Also considered as a substitute fuel for maritime fuel applications
• Can be blended with gasoline in low-quantities and used in existing road vehicles, or it can be used in high-proportion blends such as M85 in flex-fuel vehicles or M100 in dedicated methanolfuelled vehicles as a substitute for gasoline or diesel.

Other methanols
Grey methanol

• It is obtained by synthesis reaction from methane present in natural gas (or in some cases, as in China, still from coal).
• It is therefore not a renewable or clean energy.

Blue methanol

• It is also obtained by synthesis derived from natural gas, but includes as part of the process the capture and storage of the carbon generated during its production, converting it into a less
  polluting product.

e-Methanol

• It is produced from sustainable biomass, typically called bio methanol, or from carbon dioxide and hydrogen produced from renewable electricity.