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 Methanol from Biomass
The Resource
What is Methanol?
U.S. industry produces approxi-
Methanol is a liquid transportation
mately 4.7 billion liters (1.2 billion
fuel that can be produced from
gallons) of methanol annually.
fossil or renewable domestic
About 38% of this is used in the
resources. In the United States, it is
transportation sector, mostly in the
most commonly used as a chemical
production of MTBE. Most of the
feedstock, extractant, or solvent,
methanol produced in the United
and as a feedstock for producing
States today is made from natural
methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE),
gas. But methanol can also be pro-
an octane-enhancing gasoline addi-
duced from other feedstocks includ-
tive. It can also be used in neat
ing coal, biomass, and residual oil.
(100% pure) form as a gasoline sub-
Cost-effective, efficient, and environ-
stitute, or in gasoline blends such
mentally sound processes for pro-
as M85 (85% methanol and 15%
ducing methanol from biomass are
gasoline).
being pursued by both government
and industry researchers.
The Renugas 11-tonne/day process
development unit developed by !GT
The U.S. biomass resource is an
will be used to gasify bagasse at
excellent, and renewable, feedstock
the methanol pilot plant in Hawaii.
for methanol production. The
resource includes crop residues, for-
age crops (grasses), forest residues,
short-rotation tree crops, and more
than half of the municipal solid
waste and industrial waste streams.
Estimates of the biomass resource
available for U.S. fuels production
average 2.45 billion metric tons per
year. One ton of feedstock can be
converted to 721 liters (186 gal-
lons) of methanol. As a renewable
resource, biomass represents a
potentially inexhaustible feedstock
supply for methanol production.
The Production Process
Methanol can be produced from
biomass through a thermochemical
process known as gasification. The
biomass is subjected to elevated
temperatures and pressures (in
some processes) to form a synthe-
sis gas (syngas). The syngas (a mix-
ture of carbon monoxide and
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy
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