Leuna: The Development of Methanol Production

The refinery in Leuna began operations in 1997 (Source: TotalEnergies)

TotalEnergies has set the goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050 at the latest. By 2030, the group aims to significantly reduce the CO₂ footprint of the refinery in Leuna. To achieve this, the company has initiated several transformation projects.

The TotalEnergies Refinery Central Germany is located in Europe's largest contiguous chemical park in Leuna and processes up to 12 million tons of crude oil annually. This is used to produce, among other things, fuels, heating oil, liquefied gas, and other specialty products for the chemical industry. Moreover, the refinery is Germany's largest producer of methanol. Around 700,000 tons of it are produced there annually. In the past, this was exclusively fossil methanol. For several years now, there have been various projects in which more and more green methanol is being produced at the Leuna refinery.

Share of various products in the total production of the Leuna refinery (Source: TotalEnergies).

What is Methanol and How is it Produced?

Methanol is a simple alcohol that exists as a colorless, slightly volatile, and flammable liquid at room temperature. Its chemical formula is CH3OH. Methanol has been transported for over 100 years and is also one of the five most traded chemicals in the world. Traditionally, it is produced from petroleum or natural gas. In contrast to fossil methanol, green methanol is produced from biomass or green hydrogen and CO₂. The production using hydrogen and captured CO₂ (direct air capture or DAC), also known as "Power-to-Methanol", works as follows:

CO₂ Capture: CO₂ is captured from industrial exhaust gases or directly from the air.
Hydrogen Production: Hydrogen is produced through electrolysis (using renewable electricity) of water.
Synthesis: CO₂ and hydrogen react under pressure and heat in the presence of a catalyst. The chemical reaction is: CO₂ + 3H₂ → CH₃OH + H₂O
Purification: The resulting chemical is distilled and purified.

The different production methods of methanol (Source: Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore).

Overview of the e-CO2Met project (Source: TotalEnergies).

Starting Signal for Green Methanol in Leuna

In June 2021, TotalEnergies, together with the electrolyzer manufacturer Sunfire, the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes CBP, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS, launched the e-CO2Met project at the Hydrogen Lab Leuna.

The project aims to test the interaction of three processes: the use of CO₂ from the refinery, the use of green hydrogen produced by high-temperature electrolysis (also known as solid oxide electrolyzer cell, or SOEC), and the subsequent methanol synthesis on the Hy2Chem scaling platform.

A core piece of e-CO2Met is the 1-MW SOEC electrolyzer from the Dresden-based manufacturer Sunfire.

Overview of the Leuna100 pilot plant (Source: Leuna100)

The green hydrogen obtained through electrolysis and the highly concentrated CO₂ from the refinery's production processes were then converted into green methanol. For this purpose, Fraunhofer CBP and TotalEnergies set up a pilot plant in the new Fraunhofer Hydrogen Lab in the Leuna Chemical Park.

Dr. Ulrike Junghans, group leader and project coordinator at CBP, explained in a press release that the project tested the production of green methanol on a large scale for the first time - also under the conditions of a fluctuating hydrogen flow.

"With the innovative production of synthetic methanol, petroleum and natural gas can be replaced in the chemical industry, and the required raw materials can be produced in a climate-neutral manner. In this way, we are contributing to the decarbonization of basic chemicals," explains Thomas Behrends, Managing Director of TotalEnergies Refinery Central Germany.

"e-CO2Met is TotalEnergies' first pilot project to convert CO2 with renewable electrical energy into methanol. While this methanol itself can already be considered an e-fuel, it can primarily be used as a starting material for further refinement into products such as sustainable aviation fuels," added Marie-Noelle Semeria, Chief Technology Officer at TotalEnergies.

On June 27, 2024, TotalEnergies and the gas network operator Ontras signed the final contracts for hydrogen deliveries (Source: Ontras Gastransport GmbH).

"Leuna100"

In 1923, the world's first commercial methanol plant was built in Leuna. It produced the chemical from coal and natural gas. With the Leuna100 project, exactly 100 years later, a new type of methanol production began. Leuna100 aims to contribute to the market ramp-up of green methanol. The pilot plant went into operation in August 2023. According to the responsible research consortium, it was the world's first plant for the cost-efficient production of green methanol.

The pilot plant couples two different technologies for CO₂-based synthesis gas production: Fraunhofer UMSICHT provided a new low-temperature co-electrolysis, and DBI - Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg uses a reverse water-gas shift plant. The climate-tech startup C₁ supplied a new catalyst and a specially developed reactor for homogeneous catalysis of methanol.

From Pilot Operation to Regular Operation

The commercial demonstration plant is scheduled to start operations in 2026. It is expected to be 100 to 500 times larger than the pilot plant that went into operation in August 2023. It should be able to produce industrially relevant quantities of about 10-100 tons of methanol daily.

For this purpose, the refinery in Leuna will receive green hydrogen from the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park starting in 2025. The operator TotalEnergies signed the necessary contracts with Ontras at the end of June 2024. The refinery in Leuna is to receive the hydrogen via pipelines. This makes it the first customer nationwide for the planned hydrogen core network.