Fairway Methanol LLC, a US-based 50-50 joint venture between Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Tokyo) and Celanese Corp. (Dallas, Tex.), has begun the production of methanol by using carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from plants surrounding the joint venture’s facility. Fairway Methanol is expected to capture 180 thousand metric tons of CO2 and produce 130 thousand metric tons of low-carbon methanol per year, which leads its annual production capacity to 1.63 million metric tons per year.
Fairway Methanol LLC Methanol factory (Source: Mitsui)
This additional methanol production, using industry-derived CO2, is one of the carbon capture and utilization (CCU) projects that Mitsui has undertaken. The concept behind these projects considers CO2 as a resource that can be reused as a raw material, thus realizing carbon recycling and helping to reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. This project provides Mitsui with another low-carbon solution in its methanol business portfolio, following the bio-methanol (mass-balance basis) production at Fairway Methanol and the e-methanol production at Solar Park Kasso, Denmark.
In its Medium-term Management Plan 2026, Mitsui has identified Global Energy Transition as one of its Key Strategic Initiatives. In the course of building a next-generation fuel value chain, we assume that CCU fosters circularity by using emitted CO2 to create various chemical products that can reduce the need for fossil fuels and thereby contributes to the sustainable development of the whole of society.