Objective Driven by China’s national “dual carbon” goals and related policies, methanol has emerged as a promising hydrogen carrier and green fuel. However, the geographical disparity between methanol production and consumption, compounded by the limited capacity of current storage and transportation facilities, hinders large-scale, long-distance, low-carbon, and efficient methanol transport. Concurrently, the ongoing decrease in refined oil consumption has led to significant overcapacity in existing refined oil storage and transportation facilities. Therefore, when establishing an optimized methanol storage and transportation network, it is essential to comprehensively consider the integration and reutilization of existing refined oil storage and transportation facilities to maximize resource sharing and economic efficiency.

Methods To address this, a framework for planning a regional methanol multimodal transport system was developed, encompassing supply, transportation, and demand. Multiple transport modes, namely road tankers, rail tankers, methanol pipelines, and refined oil pipelines, were considered comprehensively. Three methanol multimodal-transport scenarios were defined: current methanol supply-demand capacity (Scenario 1), 2030 methanol supply-demand capacity (Scenario 2), and 2030 methanol supply-demand capacity with increased refined-oil surplus capacity (Scenario 3). On this basis, an optimization model for the regional multimodal transport of methanol, suitable for the collaborative optimization of multiple routes and modes, was established. The objective function was to minimize the total cost of methanol transportation, construction of methanol pipelines, transformation of refined oil pipelines, construction of methanol storage tanks, and transformation of refined oil storage tanks. Constraints such as methanol material balance, construction of methanol pipelines, and transformation of refined oil pipelines were incorporated to conduct an optimization analysis of the layout of methanol storage and transportation facilities.

Results The proposed model was applied to a regional multimodal transport system in China, significantly reducing the storage and transportation costs of methanol by integrating multiple modes of transportation including refined oil pipelines. In Scenario 1, the main refined oil pipelines I, II, and III were all repurposed for methanol transport, resulting in an overall load rate increase of 27％–47％ compared to their exclusive use for refined oil transport.

Conclusion The proposed planning framework and optimization model can provide effective technical paths and decision-making support for the planning of regional methanol storage and transportation facilities in China. Incorporating the surplus capacity of refined oil pipelines into the methanol multimodal transport system is of great practical significance for promoting the coordinated development of regional energy.