Doha, November 26 (QNA) - Qatar Fuel Additives Company Limited's (QAFAC) production of methanol has increased from 830,000 tons to one million ton per annum, the company's chairman Hamad Rashid Al Mohannadi said as he addressed the first Middle East Methanol Forum (MEMF) in Doha.

"As hosts of this forum and to put things in perspective, allow me to provide you with a brief background regarding our company's production of Methanol. As a result of Qatar's strategic plan to diversify its petrochemical base and expand its downstream industries, Qatar Fuel Additives Company Limited was established to optimize the utilization of the country's hydrocarbon resources by producing and exporting Methanol and MTBE," said Al Mohannadi "Our Methanol plant was designed to produce 830,000 tons yearly and it has now been expanded to almost one million tons yearly.

Having had the honor of being the first industrial operation to obtain an Environmental Permit from the Qatar Government after submitting a formal and comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment report, we recently commissioned and successfully started up the region's biggest carbon dioxide recovery plant. This innovative solution will reduce QAFAC's total greenhouse gas emissions and will meet our business needs by reusing more than 500 tons per day of CO2 in the Methanol process.

This will enhance our annual production of Methanol by an additional 90,000 tons," he added He said that the Methanol industry today spans the entire globe as production takes place in Asia, North and South America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. "Over 90 Methanol plants globally have a combined production capacity of about 100 million metric tons," added Al Mohannadi. 
QAFAC chairman explained that each day more than 165,000 tons of methanol is used as a chemical feedstock or as an energy carrier in transportation fuel. "The Methanol Institute (MI) has cited that Methanol is currently the world's second-ranked chemical transported, with more than 80,000 metric tons shipped daily from one continent to another," he said. 


"IHS recently announced that global demand for Methanol in 2013 was 60.7 million tons. The estimation for 2020 will be around 120 million tons, driven in large part by the resurgence of the global housing market, increased demand for cleaner energy and the new technologies like Methanol to olefins (MTO)," Al Mohannadi added. 


"Methanol is traditionally used to produce many products that we use in our daily life. At QAFAC Methanol is used as a raw material to produce MTBE, an octane enhancer and a gasoline oxygenate. Everywhere we look around us, we will find a product that is made from Methanol. 


"The Methanol Economy, a suggested future economy in which Methanol replaces fossil fuels as a means of energy storage, ground transportation fuel, and raw material for synthetic hydrocarbons and their products is becoming more and more realistic. 
"It is estimated that the global Methanol industry generates $36 billion in economic activity every year, while creating over 100,000 jobs around the globe," he added. (END)