CRI and Jilin Huajin Energy to collaborate on green methanol project in China

September 2, 2025, by Aida Čučuk

Iceland’s Carbon Recycling International (CRI) has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China’s Jilin Huajin Energy for the Yushu green methanol project located near Changchun City in Jilin Province, Northeast China.

As disclosed, this project will use two complementary production routes to produce renewable methanol:

e-methanol – produced by combining hydrogen from renewable-powered electrolysis with captured CO2, and
bio-methanol – produced from biomass waste via gasification.

With a planned annual capacity of 120,000 tonnes of e-methanol and 150,000 tonnes of bio-methanol, the facility is said to be designed to reduce CO2 emissions by about 410,000 tonnes each year.

According to CRI, the plant is backed by an investment of RMB 21.4 billion (approximately $3 billion) and is scheduled to begin production in mid-2027.

CRI revealed it will supply its patented emissions-to-liquids (ETL) technology and provide ISCC certification support for the project.

The green methanol is expected to be supplied primarily to the maritime industry in the European Union (EU) and Asia as a low-carbon alternative to traditional bunker fuel.

Michael Ertmann, CCO at CRI, said: “This project builds on CRI’s long-standing role in advancing renewable methanol at commercial scale. Our experience and technology are helping to shape some of the most ambitious low-carbon fuel projects in the world, and Yushu is the next step in that journey.”

It is worth mentioning that in late 2023, together with China’s Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical, CRI inaugurated a CO2-to-methanol plant at the Shenghong Petrochemical Industrial Park in China. Reportedly, this facility has the capacity to produce 100,000 tons of sustainable methanol annually.