Objective In China, there is a significant geographical mismatch between methanol production and demand. Production is concentrated in the coal-rich regions of Northwest China, while demand is primarily in the economic belts of Central and Eastern China, such as east and south China. This mismatch has resulted in extensive cross-regional transportation of methanol from west to east and north to south. Currently, methanol transportation through highway is dominant in China, facing significant cost challenges and carbon emission pressure. The traditional methanol transportation system struggles to meet the needs of industrial development.
Methods The economic efficiency of multimodal methanol transportation was systematically analyzed, and a low-cost, low-energy transportation solution was developed to provide theoretical support and practical pathways for the efficient circulation of the methanol industry under the new energy system. Using the data on production capacity, output and consumption of China’s methanol industry from 2020 to 2024, along with pipeline transportation price and enterprise transportation cost survey data disclosed by PipeChina, the cost breakdown structure method was adopted to quantitatively analyze the costs of 4 transportation modes: highway, railway, pipeline, and waterway. A unit transportation cost calculation model was established to compare the economic efficiency and carbon emissions of different transportation modes. In response to the difficulties in methanol transportation and considering the dispersed and small-scale production and demand of methanol, a multimodal transportation scheme featuring “agglomeration” at both ends was proposed, and its feasibility was verified through cost sharing and transportation volume calculation.
Results Pipeline is most economical for methanol transportation, with unit costs for newly built pipelines ranging from RMB 0.18 to 0.28/(t·km). Co-transportation using existing refined oil pipelines can further reduce costs to RMB 0.16−0.25/(t·km). The multimodal transportation model featuring “agglomeration” at both ends enables long-distance, low-cost transport between methanol production and consumption areas, reduces energy consumption, and supports the green transformation of the economy and environmentally-friendly development.
Conclusion The implementation of an optimized transportation system, centered on pipeline transportation with agglomeration at both ends, should focus on promoting: ① the construction of dedicated methanol loading and unloading facilities and cross-regional pipeline networks to address the challenges posed by decentralized production and demand; ② breakthroughs in batch transportation technology for refined oil pipelines to improve purity control during co-transportation; and ③ the establishment of a multimodal transport coordination mechanism at the policy level to minimize institutional costs in the transshipment process.
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