Methanol economy for India: Energy security, ‘Make in India’ and a zero carbon footprint

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, made a statement on methanol in the Lok Sabha. The Minister said that India, Asia’s third-largest economy, needs around 2900 crore litres of petrol and 9000 crore litres of diesel per year at present, making it the sixth highest consumer in the world. That demand will eventually double, making the nation the third largest consumer by 2030. Our import bill on account of our crude oil imports stands at almost six lakh crore.

Hydrocarbon fuels have also adversely affected the environment with Green House Gas Emissions (GHG). India is the third-highest energy related carbon dioxide emitter country in the world. Almost 30% of overall pollution in cities like Delhi is from automobiles and the growing number of automobiles on the road will further worsen pollution. It must be noted that the recent situation is alarming and that the time has come for the government to present a comprehensive road map to reduce urban pollution in the country and thereby prevent pollution-related deaths completely.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a goal for the country to reduce its import bill by 10% by the year 2022. Crude oil imports drain our foreign exchange, putting enormous pressure on our currency & thereby weakening our bargaining power with the rest of the world. We need to have our own “Indian Fuel of global relevance”. Enter methanol. But why Methanol? Methanol is a clean burning fuel that can replace both petrol & diesel in transportation and can replace LPG, wood, kerosene in cooking fuel. It can also replace diesel in the railways, marine sector, gensets, power generation and methanol based reformers could be the ideal compliment to hybrid and electric mobility. A methanol economy is the ‘bridge’ to a complete ‘hydrogen based fuel systems’. Methanol burns efficiently in all internal combustion engines, produces no particulate matter , no soot , almost no SOX and NOX emissions. The gaseous version of methanol – dimethyl ether (DME) – can blended with LPG and can be an excellent substitute for diesel in large buses and trucks.

Methanol can be produced from natural gas , Indian high-ash coal , bio-mass, MSW , stranded and flared gases and India can, with the help of the right technology, produce methanol @ Rs.19 a litre from Indian coal and all other feedstock. The best part is that the world is already moving towards renewable methanol from C02 and the perpetual recycling of C02 into methanol, say CO2 emitted from steel plants, geothermal energy or any other source of CO2, effectively ‘air to Methanol’. Over the past few years, the use of methanol and DME as a fuel has increased significantly. Methanol demand is growing at a robust six percent to eight percent annually. The world, as on date, has an installed capacity of 120 MT of methanol and that figure will rise to about 200 MT by 2025.

Global efforts Currently methanol accounts for almost nine percent of transport fuel in China. They have converted millions of vehicles that now run on methanol. China alone produces 65% of world’s methanol and it uses its coal to produce methanol. Israel and Italy have adopted a 15% blending program with petrol and are moving towards M85 & M100. Elsewhere, Japan and Korea have extensive methanol & DME usage, while Australia has adopted GEM fuels (gasoline, ethanol and methanol) and blends almost 56% methanol. Methanol has become the choice of fuel in the marine sector worldwide and countries like Sweden are at the forefront of usage. Large passenger ships carrying more than 1500 people are already running on methanol. 11 African and many Caribbean countries have adopted methanol cooking fuel and across the world gensets and industrial boilers are running on methanol, instead of diesel. Renewable methanol, produced by capturing CO2 from the atmosphere, is becoming very popular and is seen by the world as a ‘sustainable solution’. Methanol is a significant solution to the burning problem of urban pollution the worldover.

What can India do? India has an installed methanol production capacity of 2 MT per annum. As per the plan prepared by government think-tank NITI Aayog, by using high ash coal, stranded gas, and biomass, the country can produce 20MT of methanol annually by 2025. That is thanks to the fact that India has 125 billion tonnes of proven coal reserves, it generates 500 million tonnes of biomass every year and enjoys huge quantities of stranded & flared gases. The NITI Aaayog has chalked out a road map to substitute 10% of crude imports by 2030 by methanol alone. This requires approximately 30MT of Methanol. Methanol & DME are substantially cheaper than petrol and diesel and India can look to reduce its fuel bill 30% by 2030.

COP21 Production of methanol from Indian high ash coal using indigenous technology, in large quantities and adopting regional production strategies to produce Methanol in large quantities at Rs. 19 a litre. India will adopt C02 capturing technology that is environment friendly and thereby keep to its commitments to the COP21.