OCI Global announced that it plans to double its green methanol production capacity to approximately 400,000 metric tons per year in response to the growing demand for green methanol from numerous high emissions industries, including road transport, shipping and industrial.
As informed, the scale-up plans include entering into supply agreements for renewable natural gas (RNG) exceeding 15,000 mmbtu per day – as well as securing the waste and development rights from the City of Beaumont.
This is OCI’s first upstream RNG production facility and production is slated to start in Q1 2025. As well as reducing carbon dioxide emissions, obtaining biogas from landfill has the benefit of using methane – which over a 20-year period, has a global warming potential that is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide – that would otherwise escape and accelerate global warming.
OCI currently has capacity to produce up to 200 thousand metric tons of green methanol. Offtakers include the road fuels market, where it is used as a fuel-blend to reduce emissions from petrol; as a building block in a range of industrial applications; and most recently, as a fuel for shipping.
OCI has projected growth in the green methanol market of incremental demand of more than 6 million tonnes by 2028, due to the adoption of green methanol as a shipping fuel, based on the 225 dual-fuelled methanol vessels now on order.
This summer, the first ever green methanol container vessel, owned by AP Moller Maersk, was fueled with OCI HyFuels green methanol on its maiden voyage from Korea to Copenhagen. The company also announced last month a new agreement with Xpress Feeder Lines to supply their green methanol ships at the Port of Rotterdam from 2025.
We are seeing encouraging signs with regulatory support for both ammonia and methanol in shipping, such as the EU’s FuelEU maritime regulation and the latest IMO strategy bolstering the value of low carbon and green methanol and ammonia relative to fossil fuels.
..said Ahmed El-Hoshy, CEO, OCI Global.
It is a solution that is available now and our focus is on continuing to scale technologies whether through our projects or our supply partners, to ensure that our capacities continue to grow alongside demand.
…said Bashir Lebada, CEO, OCI Methanol/HyFuels.
This agreement is considered a win-win agreement for the city and OCI, as it allows the City to generate an additional revenue stream from its landfill operations while OCI will be able to use the renewable natural gas for its business.
…said Roy West, Mayor of Beaumont.
