Research into methanol synthesis from biomass has primarily focused on biomass gasification up to now. During this process, waste material from agriculture or forestry and waste products such as hydrolysates from paper manufacturing is first dried, often ground up and subsequently transported to large gasification plants. The material is firstly converted into synthesis gas at temperatures of up to 1000 degrees Celsius and subsequently converted into methanol at pressures of between 50 and 100 bar. Since dry biomass has a lower volumetric energy density, it is often made into pellets before being transported, which means additional costs are involved.
