Methanex plans Alberta carbon capture

Methanex and the carbon capture technology firm Entropy are launching a front-end engineering and design study for a carbon capture plant at Methanex’s methanol facility in Medicine Hat, Alberta. The plant will use Entropy’s technology to capture carbon dioxide from combustion. The system that the firms plan to install will cost about $75 million and capture about 400 metric tons (t) of CO₂ per day. Methanex will use some of this CO₂ to make 50,000 t of methanol per year, while the rest will be stored underground. Conventional methanol is made by reacting carbon monoxide with hydrogen. Alberta has been attracting investment in carbon capture: In June, Shell gave the green light to Polaris, a project for its Scotford refining and petrochemical complex that will capture and store 650,000 t of CO₂ per year. And late last year, Dow’s board approved a $6.5 billion investment to build a new ethylene cracker complex at its Fort Saskatchewan site that will employ carbon capture and storage.