The power production methanol project at the Port of Antwerp, an 8,000 tonne per year pilot project originally scheduled to begin operations in 2022, has been officially canceled by the development consortium.
“Rising costs, mainly influenced by the ongoing energy crisis and geopolitical uncertainties, have made e-methanol production financially unviable,” said Innovin, a subsidiary of chemical giant Ineos. said the consortium of seven companies.
“The significant increase in e-methanol production costs is no longer consistent with the price expectations of the transportation sector and major industrial buyers.”
Furthermore, “despite intensive commercial efforts to attract potential e-methanol buyers, these efforts have not yielded results desirable enough to warrant a final investment decision.
“In particular, the immaturity of the e-methanol market and the prevailing uncertainty have made potential buyers reluctant to enter into long-term contracts tailored to the duration of the project.”
Project to convert electricity to methanol aimed to save 8,000 tons of CO2 The initial phase is for one year, with the ambition to eventually scale up production to supply wider industrial applications of the chemical and potential new markets in road transport and maritime transport.
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The project’s feasibility study alone will cost around 2 million euros ($2.18 million), of which the Flemish regional government will come up with 1 million euros in 2021.
Participatiemaatschappij Vlaanderen, the investment arm of the Flemish government, is also one of the partners in the consortium, which includes French energy company Engie, gas grid operator Fluxys, Dutch waste management company Indaver, terminal storage operator Advario and Antwerp.・The port of Bruges was also included.
Inovyn already operates a chlor-alkali electrolyzer at its Lillo East site in the port of Antwerp to produce chlorine, caustic soda and potassium hydroxide.
Parent company Ineos is also developing a new ethane cracker for plastics production at the port of Antwerp, with plans to burn 100,000 tonnes of hydrogen byproduct per year in the process to fuel its own furnaces.
The facility faced years of litigation and its permit was revoked by court order in 2023, but Ineos last month won a new environmental permit from Flemish Energy Minister Zuhar Demir.