On January 31, a progress report meeting for key milestones of the "Key Technology and Pilot-Scale Verification Project for Full-Carbon Directional Conversion of Biogas to Green Methanol" was held at the Shanghai Laogang Ecological Environmental Protection Base. It was revealed at the meeting that the pilot-scale facility for this project has successfully commenced operation with feedstock input and has successfully produced green methanol that meets the standards for green marine fuel. This achievement not only fills the technological gap in the international field of full-carbon conversion of biogas to green marine fuel but also provides solid material support for the green transformation of the global shipping industry.

The project is led by Professor Chen De, Chair Professor at East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST), Academician of the European Academy of Sciences, and Chief Scientist of Shanghai Fuchuang Technology Co., Ltd. It is a collaborative effort involving ECUST, Shanghai Fuchuang Technology, Shanghai Chengtou Group, Sinopec Shanghai Engineering Company, and Shanghai Port Energy, among other institutions, and has received significant support from the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission's special project.

As a critical bridge for translating scientific and technological achievements from the "laboratory" to industrial application, this high-efficiency pilot-scale facility integrates multiple proprietary technologies, including electrically driven biogas mixed reforming, directional synthesis of green methanol, coupled heat pump distillation, and thermal integration optimization systems. Within just six months, core tasks such as the preparation of key materials, equipment development, and facility construction and installation were completed. The produced green methanol achieves a purity of 99.99% and a biogenic carbon content of 97.78%.

Currently, the global shipping industry faces mandatory targets for net-zero emissions by 2050 and carbon cost pressures, making the search for viable and sustainable alternative fuels a key challenge for the industry's development. Green methanol, with its advantages of low carbon emissions throughout its lifecycle and strong compatibility, has become a "star fuel" to replace traditional heavy fuel oil. One of its key raw materials is biogas generated from the anaerobic digestion of urban organic waste.

However, traditional biogas utilization methods have significant limitations, as they only utilize the methane component, while a large amount of carbon dioxide is directly emitted. This not only results in the waste of carbon resources but also reduces the green credentials of the product, becoming a core bottleneck hindering the practical application of the technology.

The newly developed Biogas to Ethanol and Sustainable Transportation Methanol (BESTm) technology successfully addresses this challenge. Targeting the natural composition of biogas, which typically consists of approximately 70% methane and 30% carbon dioxide, the technology establishes a full-chain process system comprising "biogas production unit – biogas purification unit – mixed reforming syngas generation unit – green methanol synthesis unit." Through electrically driven mixed reforming syngas generation coupled with catalytic hydrogenation technology, it can convert nearly 100% of the carbon from both methane and carbon dioxide into carbon within green methanol, truly achieving "maximizing carbon utilization."

The pilot project achieves a "lifecycle carbon emission intensity reduction rate" exceeding 95%, far surpassing the EU certification standard of 65%. This remarkable performance is primarily attributed to the highly efficient recovery and utilization of carbon resources.

"We are turning the city's 'burden' into valuable 'minerals,'" explained Professor Duan Xuezhi, a core member of the project team from ECUST. The technology enables the conversion of approximately 8 tons of wet waste into about 1 ton of green methanol. Taking Shanghai as an example, the city generates about 3.5 million tons of wet waste annually, which could be used to synthesize over 400,000 tons of green methanol. This could provide ample local supply for green methanol bunkering at Shanghai Port, supporting Shanghai in building a local green fuel supply system.

It is understood that the technology also includes three pioneering innovations, leading to four disruptive outcomes: increased biogas production, full carbon utilization, zero emissions, and high efficiency, further enhancing the technology's core competitiveness.

High cost has long been a major obstacle to the large-scale adoption of green methanol. Academician Chen De explained that, based on calorific value equivalence, approximately 500 tons of green methanol is equivalent to over 200 tons of heavy fuel oil. Currently, the trading price of green methanol is around over 9,000 RMB per ton, while heavy fuel oil is only around 3,000 RMB per ton, resulting in a price difference exceeding 3.9 million RMB for a single bunkering operation. This creates the dilemma where green methanol is "environmentally friendly but too expensive to use."

The BESTm technology achieves a critical breakthrough in cost reduction. Calculations show that its production cost for green methanol is reduced by over 30% compared to traditional synthesis routes, dropping to around 3,800 RMB per ton, significantly lower than the current market production cost of 6,000–7,000 RMB per ton. Crucially, when electricity prices are in the range of 0.1–0.2 RMB per kilowatt-hour, the cost of producing green methanol via this technology can be on par with traditional coal-to-methanol, removing a core barrier to large-scale application.

Currently, the BESTm technology has obtained dual certification from the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC), granting it the necessary credentials to enter the international market for green marine fuels. The project team stated that the next step is to accelerate the industrial scale-up of the technology. Plans are underway to construct ten-thousand-ton-scale industrial demonstration projects in Shanghai and surrounding areas. It is expected that by December of this year, the process package for a 100,000-ton facility will be completed, and a 72-hour stable operation of the pilot-scale facility will be achieved, laying the foundation for subsequent 100,000-ton-scale industrial application demonstrations and further verifying the stability and economic viability of large-scale production.

Academician Chen De pointed out that Shanghai, as the world's largest container port, has concentrated demand for green marine fuels. Leveraging its local resource advantages, geographical advantages, and industrial strengths, Shanghai possesses unique conditions to build a "future Asia-Pacific green fuel hub." In the future, through integrated advancement involving "government, port, shipping, energy, and certification," an ecosystem covering the entire industrial chain of production, storage, transportation, bunkering, and certification can be established. Simultaneously, by linking with external green methanol projects, such as those in Taonan, Jilin, a closed-loop system of "production – transportation – bunkering" can be formed, supporting China in leading the development of global green shipping.

It is reported that Shanghai Port has already completed China's first ship-to-ship green methanol bunkering operation and has explicitly set a target of achieving 1 million tons of bunkering capacity for green methanol and other biofuels by 2030. This technological breakthrough will provide crucial support for achieving this goal.

Industry insiders indicate that the breakthrough of this technology not only realizes the resource utilization of organic waste like food waste, solving the dual challenges of urban waste management and shipping decarbonization, but also pushes the production cost of green methanol into a market-acceptable range. It is expected to accelerate the global shipping industry's progress toward net-zero emissions and inject new momentum into achieving the "dual carbon" goals. With the large-scale promotion of the technology, urban wet waste is expected to become an important "supply source" for green fuels in the shipping industry in the future, establishing a new sustainable development model of "urban circularity – green shipping."