Clariant catalysts to be used in Repsol’s waste-to-methanol plant

Swiss chemical firm Clariant announced its collaboration in Spanish oil firm Repsol’s pioneering methanol plant in El Morell near Tarragona, Spain. The Ecoplanta project will be the first of its kind in Europe to convert municipal waste into renewable methanol.

The facility will operate using Enerkem’s advanced waste gasification process, supported by a range of Clariant’s syngas purification catalysts and its highly active MegaMax methanol synthesis catalysts. Scheduled for completion in 2029, the plant will use 400,000 tonnes/year of non-recyclable solid municipal waste to produce 240,000 tonnes of methanol.

Founded in 2000, Enerkem is a global technology provider enabling the production of low-carbon fuels and chemicals from waste. Its solutions tackle the challenges of waste management and decarbonisation in hard-to-abate sectors, such as aviation, marine transportation, chemicals and off-grid energy.

Clariant’s catalytic technologies are said to be suited to the Ecoplanta process. After gasification of municipal waste, the trap and guard catalysts will be used to efficiently remove all types of impurities, such as metals, halogens, and sulphur species.

The purified syngas will then be converted to methanol using the MegaMax series catalysts. Due to its high activity, the catalyst can optimise methanol yield while significantly reducing operating costs. MegaMax also offers enhanced selectivity, which greatly reduces the formation of by-products and thus improves the sustainability and economics of bio-methanol production.

Renewable methanol offers a highly adaptable pathway to support decarbonisation across a broad range of industries. It can be utilised as a drop-in fuel for maritime and road transportation and as a feedstock for chemical and sustainable aviation fuel production.