How methanol is made
Factories make methanol from natural gas over copper, and living plants still give off two to three times as much.
- stations
- 5
- things upstream
- 2
- raw sources
- 2
- step from the ground
- 1
The short version
Methanol plants turn natural gas and steam into synthesis gas, a mix of hydrogen and carbon oxides. That gas flows over a copper-based catalyst in a reactor and comes out as liquid methanol, which is distilled clean. The product becomes formaldehyde, acetic acid and fuel additives. Biodiesel makers use it too.
-
Reform gas into syngas
Natural gas and steam react over a catalyst to give synthesis gas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The plant is built around this step.
Goes in -
Pass it over copper
Compressed synthesis gas flows through a reactor packed with a copper-based catalyst. Modern catalysts allow much gentler conditions than the extreme pressures of the first synthetic process.
-
Condense the crude liquid
The gas leaving the reactor is cooled until the methanol condenses. Unreacted gas loops back to the reactor for another pass.
-
Distill it clean
Distillation columns strip off water and lighter by-products. The finished methanol is a clear liquid shipped in tankers.
-
Send it to chemical plants
Most methanol goes on to make formaldehyde, acetic acid and fuel additives. Biodiesel makers use it to split vegetable oil.
Worth repeating
- A 1924 BASF patent application described making methanol at up to 220 atmospheres and 450 °C.
- Astronomers have found a methanol cloud in space 0.463 terametres across.
- In 2019 China used as much as 7 million tons of methanol as transportation fuel.
Back to the ground
Follow every input upstream and methanol starts as these 2 raw sources.
Open the whole family tree
Where it goes next
Methanol feeds 7 lines directly and reaches 273 things in total.
Further down the line
Keep walking
Sources
Cite this page: "How methanol is made." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/methanol