"Liquid Sunshine" Methanol

"Liquid sunshine" refers to methanol synthesized using photovoltaic and wind energy as energy sources. The basic principle involves utilizing renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy to decompose water into hydrogen gas, which is then used to produce methanol by combining with carbon dioxide.

CO2(g)+3H2(g)→ CH3OH(g)+H2O(g),△H=-49.0kJ/mol

In other words, methanol serves as a carrier for storing, transporting, and utilizing clean energy such as solar energy.While electricity is difficult to store and transport, liquid methanol can easily accomplish this task.

In addition to absorbing and consuming electrical energy on a large scale, liquid sunshine methanol can also drive other industries to reduce carbon emissions and recycle carbon dioxide in high-carbon emission areas.

Currently, China's coal-to-methanol production capacity is around 90 million tons per year. If all of it were replaced with liquid sunshine methanol, more than 120 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions could be reduced.

Methanol can be used as fuel for lightweight internal combustion engines, widely used in passenger cars in Brazil.

Methanol can also serve as a transport medium for hydrogen at room temperature and pressure. One hundred kilograms of methanol can release 18.75 kilograms of hydrogen through steam reforming. Transporting 1 ton of methanol is equivalent to releasing over 187 kilograms of hydrogen gas.