Methanol also can be made from renewable resources such as wood, municipal solid wastes and sewage. The production of methanol also offers an important market for the use of flared natural gas. In a typical plant, methanol production is carried out in two steps. The first step is to convert the feedstock natural gas into a synthesis gas stream consisting of CO, CO2, H2O and hydrogen. This is usually accomplished by the catalytic reforming of feed gas and steam.
Partial oxidation is another possible route.
The second step is the catalytic synthesis of methanol from the synthesis gas. Each of these steps can be carried out in a number of ways and various technologies offer a spectrum of possibilities which may be most suitable for any desired application. This process results in a considerable hydrogen surplus, as can be seen. If an external source of CO2 is available, the excess hydrogen can be consumed and converted to additional methanol. The carbon dioxide and hydrogen produced in the last equation would then react with an additional hydrogen from the top set of reactions to produce additional methanol.