A few days ago, George Ola, the Nobel Prize winner in chemistry and a famous organic chemist, described a solution to the energy shortage in the post-oil and gas era and put forward the concept of "methanol economy" for the first time. So, what is the methanol economy? What is the current progress of methanol economy? What is the current situation and future of methanol economy in China?
The methanol economy is to produce methanol by utilizing the currently available fossil fuel resources and hydrogenating and reducing carbon dioxide. Part of it is injected into automobiles for energy use, and the other part is used for various products needed by chemical plants for production and life.
The development of everything has to go through different stages, from quantitative change to qualitative change, and methanol economy is no exception. In the short term, the new methods of methanol production include: using natural resources such as natural gas and coal available at present to synthesize methanol efficiently, and also hydrogenating carbon dioxide in industrial waste gas to convert it into methanol. In the long run, carbon dioxide from the air is captured and recycled, and at the same time, it is converted into methanol together with hydrogen made from water by any kind of energy. Methanol itself is an excellent fuel, which can be used in future internal combustion engines or fuel cells.
China's methanol resources are very rich, and it is completely feasible to base on the transition of "methanol economy" and connect with the new energy era, which not only conforms to the energy strategy of "focusing on coal and diversified development", but also conforms to the scientific objective law. Some experts believe that methanol economy should be the main body of the energy transition era.
Zhang Erhong, an expert in methanol industry in China, said that with the continuous development of science and technology, the raw material structure of methanol will be constantly changing: for example, associated gas and regenerated gas generated by thermal processing industries such as steel and cement, and gas generated by mining in mining areas can be used as raw materials for methanol production; Various straws, water resources and the atmosphere may be the main sources of methanol raw materials in the coming years.
Therefore, the development of methanol economy has the function of "killing two birds with one stone", which can not only solve the energy depletion problem that human beings have been worried about, but also provide ideas for the increasingly serious environmental problems. In recent years, the methanol economy in China has developed rapidly. According to relevant statistics, by the end of 2012, the economic output value of methanol reached about 193.6 billion yuan, accounting for about 1.5% of the total output value of the petrochemical industry. The output value of methanol is 68.3 billion yuan, accounting for 35.3% of the economic output value of methanol.
At present, China has initially established a new generation of coal-based energy chemical system, and the accompanying methanol economy has also emerged. From 2008 to 2012, China's methanol production capacity increased at an average annual rate of 25.7%, reaching 50.52 million tons by the end of 2012. Methanol investment is still in full swing, especially in the central and western regions, and investment in large-scale devices is still accelerating. According to Zhang Erhong's prediction, during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period, the investment in methanol plant will reach 221.4 billion yuan, with an average annual growth rate of about 25.8%. In the next 15 years, China's methanol production capacity will exceed 200 million tons, and the economic output value of methanol will reach about 1 trillion, accounting for about 7% of the total output value of petroleum and chemical industries. According to reports, China's methanol economy highlights the development concept of low carbon and environmental protection, which is mainly reflected in the following aspects: First, the clean coal gasification process with environmental protection and high efficiency is adopted to produce methanol from coal. There are 187 coal-to-methanol enterprises in China, and 50 enterprises adopt clean coal gasification technology, accounting for 26.7% of the total coal-to-methanol enterprises, with a production capacity of 25.59 million tons, accounting for 68.6% of the total coal-to-methanol production capacity. Second, China's methanol production is unique, and comprehensive waste gas utilization has become a trend. Third, with the optimized development of methanol economy, energy efficient utilization and process adjustment are more reasonable. Fourth, the development of polygeneration cycle has become fashionable. Methanol is associated with fertilizer, coke, building materials, power generation, metallurgy and other industries. Polygeneration technologies such as IGCC energy recycling technology and energy-saving common rail technology have emerged in time.
At present, China's methanol economy has evolved in two major directions: one is the energy direction dominated by alcohol ether fuel, especially the production technology of methanol fuel and methanol vehicles, and the industrialization level has ranked among the top in the world. The other direction is the high-value utilization of chemical products such as "triene" and "triphenyl" made from methanol. The technology of producing olefins and aromatics from methanol has been successfully developed, which marks a major breakthrough for methanol to replace oil in petrochemical industry.