India Achieves Historic Milestone in CO₂ Methanol Production

The Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Station, located in Madhya Pradesh, has released its first methanol that is synthesized from captured industrial CO₂. Reaching this point is a milestone that holds a high meaning for the entire world, since it goes beyond waste gases usage to carbon capture application, thus opening the door for more efficient ways to handle these emissions.

Carbon Clean and the NTPC Energy Technology Research Alliance (NETRA) are the two parties whose combined work over the past two years has led to this achievement.

By means of Carbon Clean's CaptureX semi-modular technology at 500 MW Unit-13, CO₂ is taken out directly from a coal plant's flue gas and further reduction of CO₂ is performed by catalytic hydrogenation with green hydrogen supply to form methanol, a renewable energy carrier and the future feedstock of fuel cells as well as the chemical industry.

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India is preparing to set up a national carbon capture program that will provide incentives to selected projects so the development and adoption of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies can be accelerated along with the use of coal in energy generation.

CaptureX is a fully modular, easy-to-adjust, and mobile system designed to collect up to 20 tons of CO₂ daily at a purity of more than 99%. Following the success at Vindhyachal, NTPC has opted for the Simhadri Super Thermal Plant to deploy the technology for an aim of turning 25 tons of CO₂ per day into ethanol as a next step.

The CEO of Carbon Clean, Aniruddha Sharma, pointed out that these projects are the visual examples of how industrial emissions can become low carbon, commercially viable products that contribute Indian positioning among world leaders of solar carbon-to-fuel innovations.