Methanol from atmospheric carbon dioxide: A liquid zero emission fuel for the future

Abstract

Methanol is a promising liquid energy carrier for the storage of renewable energy. The comparison with hydrogen shows a lower total energy efficiency for methanol. But methanol is easy to handle within the existing transport and storage capacities of the petrol industry. Therefore it causes low investment costs for the infrastructure of a global renewable energy network. For the storage of small amounts of energy like in individual traffic and for the distribution of energy in low populated regions methanol is even the most efficient alternative. Beside hydrogen, a basic component for the synthesis of methanol is CO 2. The recovery of CO 2 from atmosphere will avoid an infrastructure for CO 2-transport to the place where methanol is generated. With solar energy as the energy source a lower energy demand for the recovery of CO 2 from atmosphere than from combustion fluegases can be achieved. An integration of biomass as basic product for the synthesis of methanol improves the conversion efficiency from solar energy to methanol.