Development of an economical approach for the production of low-carbon methanol and low-carbon methanol-derivatives

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To tackle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions issues, the Canadian Government created the Clean Fuel Standard (CFS) aiming to reduce the carbon intensity of fuels and energy systems used in the country, forcing the Canadian industry to replace the use of petroleum-derivatives with greener options. However, there are currently no renewable options that could effectively replace them. Hence, a variety of green technologies allowing the production of low-carbon energy products will have to be developed to address the whole energy demand and to decarbonize the Canadian economy. Methane, which is the main component of biogas and natural gas, will play a major role in the energy transition since it is a more sustainable option than crude oil and it is currently one of the cheapest carbon sources available. Converting methane to methanol, which is a more easily storable and transportable product is an interesting option allowing the valorization of different methane resources. However, the process currently used at industrial scale requires a large methanol production to be economical viable. Hence, the development of a new approach that can reduce the overall costs of this process is highly desirable and would also contribute to the economical production of methanol-derivatives, which could later replace petroleum-derivatives in our economy. The present research program will tackle this issue by proposing a new Power-to-X (PtX) approach that combines two processes. The first one will convert flue gas and surplus renewable electricity into syngas (which can then be converted to methanol) over a low-cost iron-based catalyst. This process allows not only the conversion of GHG gases but the chemical storage of renewable electricity as well. In the second process, the deactivated iron-based catalyst from the first process will be used to convert methane to methanol. Hence, the deactivated catalyst of the first process acts as a performing catalyst in the second process and vice-versa and the system can be "self-maintained". This approach will not only considerably reduce the costs of the individual processes (since both processes use the same infrastructure) but also contribute to decarbonize a large portion of the Canadian economy. The present Discovery Grant will mainly focus on the development and optimization of the catalytic system for the second process (methane oxidation to methanol) and on the comprehension of the reaction mechanisms, which will later contribute to the optimization and scale-up of the whole PtX approach. This 5-year project will contribute to the training of a diverse team (diverse expertise and nationalities) of highly qualified personnel (HQP) working in a context of interdisciplinary research on energy/materials (catalyst)/chemistry/chemical engineering (industrial/technological transfer), which will contribute with different expertise and points of view and will increase the excellence of the research program.