Methanol
The simplest alcohol, made from gas or coal: a 110 Mt building block for resins, plastics, acetic acid and fuels, and a candidate shipping fuel.
Commodity chemicals · Methanol & oxygenates · No. 31
- Single chemical
- Feedstock: Oil, gas or coal
- about 112 Mt produced (2024, including coal-to-olefins); 90.5 Mt of merchant derivative demand excluding integrated coal-to-olefins (2024)
- 2.6 t CO₂e per t
- HS 290511
Half the world's methanol is made from Chinese coal, and some of it ends up as plastic olefins or ship fuel.
Chart: Illustration: Methanol
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Natural gas or coal is turned into synthesis gas, then passed over a copper catalyst. A gas plant consumes about 29-32 GJ of gas per tonne, so cheap gas wins.
Three things to know
- China uses about 60% of the world's methanol, 54.1 Mt of 90.5 Mt merchant demand in 2024, much of it to make plastics.
- India imports about 98% of its methanol, 3.57 Mt in FY2026, mostly from Gulf producers.
- Methanol made from coal emits roughly three to four times the CO2 of gas-based methanol.
The journey
- 1 Gas or coalStranded Gulf gas or Inner Mongolian coal
- 2 SyngasReforming or gasification makes CO and hydrogen
- 3 SynthesisCopper catalyst at 50-100 bar
- 4 Grade AADistilled to at least 99.85% pure
- 5 TankersA third of seaborne trade passes Hormuz
- 6 DerivativesFormaldehyde, olefins, MTBE, acetic acid, fuels