Production of methanol from renewable sources in Mexico: Supply chain optimization

Abstract

Methanol is one of the most important chemical compounds, as it is the basis for producing a wide variety of derivatives. Its production through fossil sources such as natural gas in countries like Mexico is not entirely viable due to the fluctuations in the availability of this resource. The use of renewable sources to produce methanol represents an interesting area of opportunity to reduce the dependence on a single raw material. This work proposes the design of the methanol supply chain in Mexico using residual materials, finding a solution with the best compromise between profit, social impact, and CO₂ emissions. The solution with the best compromise corresponds to a profit of 7,334,100 USD/y, a marginalization index of 2592.536 and CO₂ emissions of -0.021 Mt/y. This solution has 8 different types of raw materials, 18 process plants and the use of three processing technologies: gasification, anaerobic digestion, and catalysis from CO₂.