Recently, 16 tank trucks loaded with green methanol slowly drove out of the Xing'an League Economic and Technological Development Zone in Inner Mongolia. This batch of products will be transported by land to Yingkou Port in Liaoning Province, and then loaded onto ships for shipment to Busan, South Korea. The delivery target is international shipping companies. This marks the official delivery of the first batch of products for the world's largest wind power hydrogen production coupled with biomass gasification to produce methanol project, and the commercialization of hydrogen based energy from laboratory and pilot demonstrations into commercial sales.

Dual resource coupling of wind, solar and biomass

The project is invested and constructed by Goldwind Green Energy Chemical, a subsidiary of Goldwind Technology. The overall planned production capacity is 1.45 million tons of green methanol, which will be implemented in three phases. It is planned to be fully completed and put into operation by the end of 2027. The first phase of investment is 2.296 billion yuan, with an annual output of 250000 tons, which is the first batch of products delivered this time. The project innovation adopts a wind power green hydrogen coupled biomass gasification process route for alcohol production: the wind farm produces green electricity, electrolyzes water to produce high-purity green hydrogen, collects agricultural and forestry biomass waste on-site for gasification to obtain carbon containing synthesis gas, and couples green hydrogen with synthesis gas to produce green methanol. The entire process solves the pain point of high carbon source cost in the simple hydrogenation of carbon dioxide to produce methanol, while achieving the resource utilization of agricultural and forestry waste.

Flexible regulation solves the problem of fluctuations

The biggest engineering difficulty of the project lies in the contradiction between wind wave dynamics and continuous chemical production. The wind power output varies with the wind speed day and night, and the load of electrolytic hydrogen production fluctuates accordingly. However, the methanol synthesis unit has strict requirements for the composition and flow stability of the feed gas. The project is equipped with an energy storage system and an intelligent control platform to build a multi energy collaborative coupling system for wind hydrogen storage biomass, which can smooth out fluctuations in wind power output and achieve stable conversion from low-density wind energy to high-density standardized liquid chemical energy. The product has obtained ISCC EU, ISCC PLUS carbon footprint certification and domestic RFNBO green hydrogen certification. Goldwind Technology has signed long-term supply agreements with Maersk and Hapag Lloyd Shipping Alliance for over 750000 tons of green methanol. Keywords: New Energy News and Information, Green Electricity Hydrogen Production, Hydrogen Energy

Commercial validation of liquid molecular energy

Green methanol, as a liquid carrier of green hydrogen, can be directly used in existing tank trucks, storage tanks, docks, and ship storage and transportation systems at room temperature and pressure, without the need for new dedicated hydrogen energy infrastructure. Its two core markets are international shipping fuels and chemical raw materials, and the International Maritime Organization's emission reduction targets are driving global leading shipping companies to accelerate the replacement of traditional heavy oil. The delivery of the first batch of products in the project has verified the complete industrialization loop from wind and solar power generation, electrolytic hydrogen production, biomass gasification, methanol synthesis to product export and overseas customer reception. It provides a replicable on-site energy conversion solution for wind and solar resource rich areas, as well as a feasible decarbonization path for shipping and chemical industries that are difficult to electrify.Editor/Gao Xue