Big future predicted for carbon recycling in China

Iceland-based Carbon Recycling International (CRI) has announced it will build up to 30 CO2-to-methanol production plants in China by the year 2030. These facilities could eliminate ‘up to six million tons’ of CO2 emissions per year, the company claims.

CRI’s technology can be retrofitted with existing industrial installations, taking advantage of the gas by-product, as well as wind and solar sources, to capture and reuse emitted CO2.

The Nordic Environment Finance Corporation is investing EUR 2 million in the project which is part of a larger financing round to fund CRI’s first commercial scale project in China based on CO2-to-methanol conversion technology.

Huge growth

The current market for methanol in China is estimated at over US$ 19 billion (Euro 16.4 billion) and is forecast to grow at 10% annually, according to CRI. The largest consumers of methanol in China are producers of plastics and other synthetic materials. ‘Switching from fossil methanol to CRI’s green methanol feedstock allows these manufacturers to utilise the same assets to create materials which reduce CO2 emissions,’ the company explains.

Joint venture

Carbon Recycling International was founded in 2006. The company’s first industrial scale facility based on its emissions-to-liquids technology was commissioned at home in Iceland in 2012. In 2017, the company incorporated a joint venture in China to market its technology, in partnership with Geely Automotive and Zixin Industrial Co.