Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy

After just three years since the publication of the first edition of our book it is rewarding that favorable reception and interest prompted our publisher to suggest an updated edition. The concept of our proposed ‘‘Methanol Economy’’ in the intervening time has made progress from extended research to practical development in countries around the world. From smaller demonstration plants to full-scale
methanol and derived dimethyl ether (DME) plants, practical industrial applications are growing in this field. These include carbon dioxide to methanol (and DME) conversion plants but also large million metric tonnes per year, coal or natural gas based mega-plants using still available large coal and natural gas resources.

The full potential of the Methanol Economy will be realized, however, when the chemical
recycling of natural and industrial carbon dioxide sources into methanol and its derived products are widely implemented, making their use environmentally carbon neutral and regenerative. This will allow us to mitigate the grave environmental problems linked to global warming. At the same time chemical carbon dioxide recycling, eventually from the air itself, will provide humankind with an inexhaustible
carbon source available everywhere on earth. The needed hydrogen for the conversion of CO2 into methanol can be produced from water using any renewable or atomic energy source. This conversion will allow the continued production of convenient transportation and household fuels, and synthetic hydrocarbons and their products on which we all so much depend on. It should be emphasized that
methanol is not an energy source but only a convenient way to store, transport and use any form of energy.We are not suggesting that this approach is necessarily in all aspects the only solution for the future. The Methanol Economy, however, is a new feasible and realistic approach, warranting further development and increasing practical application.

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