Are there differences in methanol depending on the raw material?

I am also just starting to get involved with the methanol production process, so I’ll share some basic thoughts! In terms of raw materials, these can be coal, coke oven gas, or natural gas. China’s energy profile is characterized by an abundance of coal, a shortage of oil, and an abundance of gas; therefore, different regions use different processes and raw materials depending on local conditions. However, from a chemical composition perspective, there is no difference – all methods involve the use of CO, CO2, and H2, with some preliminary chemical processing steps required before production. As a result, the methanol produced should be identical in quality. Some companies use only natural gas, probably due to the equipment they have in place and the availability of natural gas in that area. In terms of production costs, coal is the most expensive source for producing methanol, followed by natural gas, with coke oven gas being the cheapest, as it is a by-product of coking plants. In my opinion, the price of natural gas fluctuates along with the price of oil! I’m not sure if this answer will satisfy you

Thank you very much. Some companies only want natural gas; I’m not sure why. As for the prices here, natural gas is 20 PS more expensive than coal in the Shandong region

I work in the production of formaldehyde. The raw material for its production is methanol made from natural gas, and the energy consumption in its production is lower than that of methanol produced from coal. This shows that there are still differences between methanol produced by the two processes. The specific difference lies in the presence of various trace impurities; generally, methanol produced from natural gas contains no sulfur, whereas methanol produced from coal as a raw material contains trace amounts of sulfur.