Methanol Production and Applications: An Overview

Abstract Methanol, or methyl alcohol, is the simplest alcohol, appearing as a colorless liquid with a distinctive smell. Nowadays, it is considered one of the most useful chemical compounds. In fact, it is one of the most promising building blocks for obtaining more complex chemical structures, such as acetic acid, methyl tertiary butyl ether, dimethyl ether, methylamine, etc. Furthermore, methanol is also considered a promising clean-burning fuel with a high octane number. Knowing that CO2 and H2 are among the precursors in methanol synthesis, it is noteworthy that the conversion of CO2 to methanol can be considered a promising method for significantly reducing CO2 emissions, and that methanol production can also be used as a convenient energy carrier for hydrogen storage and conservation. In fact, methanol synthesis is the second source, after ammonia production, of hydrogen consumption (which has the highest energy content per weight) via several reactions, such as partial oxidation, steam reforming, autothermal reforming, methanol decomposition, or methanol-water solution electrolysis. Finally, among the recent attractive applications of methanol, the most promising for the future are the production of DME, the production of hydrogen, and the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). This chapter is an overview of not only common feedstocks used in the production processes for obtaining methanol (natural gases, CO2, or char/biomass), but also of the historical production processes (such as the BASF process, also known as the “high-pressure method,” and the ICI process, also known as the “low-pressure method”) and the most innovative trends for industrial applications.