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India’s first CO2-to-Methanol pilot plant has been unveiled. It is situated in Thermax Limited premises in Pune, Maharashtra.

The plant will demonstrate and advance indigenous carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies. To reduce carbon footprint, the plant will focus on developing new catalysts and processes for conversion of captured carbon dioxide to chemicals from both pre-combustion and post-combustion processes.

The conversion of CO2 to methanol is a process known as CO2 reduction and involves the following steps:

1. Capture and purification of CO2: CO2 is captured from industrial processes or directly from the air, then purified to remove impurities.
2. Production of low-carbon-intensity hydrogen, initially from the reforming of methane with carbon capture, but over time, increasingly from the electrolysis of water using renewable electricity from solar, wind or hydroelectricity.
3. Conversion of CO2 to carbon monoxide (CO): CO2 is reacted with hydrogen gas (H2) to produce carbon monoxide (CO) and water (H2O). This is known as the reverse water-gas shift reaction.
4. Conversion of CO to methanol: The CO produced in the previous step is then reacted with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst to produce methanol (CH3OH).

This pioneering project, supported by DST, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India is to be implemented in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and Thermax Limited, Pune, under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode, with an overall cost of approx. Rs. 31 crores.

Benefits of CO2 to Methanol conversion:

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