CEMEX partners with startup ETFuels to produce e-methanol for bunkering

Dublin-based ETFuels plans to capture up to 450,000 mt/year of carbon dioxide (CO2) from Mexican cement manufacturer CEMEX's Alicante cement plant in Spain, to produce 300,000 mt/year of e-methanol for bunkering.

PHOTO: CEMEX concrete mixer truck at its cement plant. Via Twitter of @CEMEX

E-methanol, or synthetic methanol, is produced from CO2 captured from renewable sources like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) or direct air capture (DAC). This is then reacted with hydrogen using a catalyst.

This type of methanol can be carbon-neutral and has almost zero emissions of nitrous and sulphur oxides and particulates.

While the pilot project will be based in Spain, CEMEX plans to “expand this agreement to other CEMEX operations in the broader EMEA and North America regions where there is the potential to leverage additional benefits.”

According to ETFuels chief executive Lara Naqushbandi, combining fuel production with carbon capture and utilisation is a "scalable way" to decarbonise supply chains.

Growing demand for low-emission fuels has prompted suppliers to explore ways to produce e-methanol in a more sustainable, carbon-neutral way. As a result, suppliers are looking at new sources of CO2 that are not extracted from fossil fuels.

London-based Carbon Clean announced last week that it would supply Danish wind energy giant Ørsted with equipment capable of capturing 70,000 mt/year of biogenic CO2. Ørsted will produce e-methanol at its FlagshipONE facility in northern Sweden using biogenic CO2 captured from biomass-fired combined heat and power plants.

By Konica Bhatt

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