Decentralized Biomethanol from Organic Residues

Direct single-step conversion of biogas from organic residues, such as palm oil, into low-carbon biomethanol.

TURNING WASTE INTO VALUE

Across Southeast Asia, massive amounts of agricultural biogas remain stranded in remote palm oil mills without grid access or gas pipelines.

NextMethanol solves this using breakthrough single-step catalytic technology—converting decentralized biogas directly into globally tradable liquid biomethanol.

We turn stranded waste into high-value clean energy, cutting methane emissions and unlocking low-carbon fuel for global markets.

Learn Our Story

THE CONCEPT

A revolutionary single-step process.

Our process converts biogas from organic residues, such as palm oil and other agri-food waste directly into biomethanol – in one single catalytic step — where conventional routes need four.

Residue Biogas

Reactor

Biomethanol

HOW IT WORKS

One step instead of four.

Conventional Route

High CAPEX / OPEX —complex – centralized

The NEXTMETHANOL Process

Direct catalytic conversion of methane content in biogas to biomethanol in a single reactor system — everything else falls away.

Low CAPEX/OPEX – Modular · decentralized · scalable – simple

THE OPPORTUNITY

Today, POME biogas is a wasted opportunity

Methane escapes into the air

Untreated POME emits large volumes of methane — a potent greenhouse gas — from open effluent ponds.

Biogas earns too little

Where biogas is captured, it is usually burned for low-value energy instead of being converted into a high-value product.

A single mill looks too small

Volumes at a single mill are far below the scale classical methanol plants need to be feasible.

MARKET POTENTIAL

Marine fuel: a global market forming today.

Marine fuel demand

A front-running marine fuel — toward 2050, bunker demand alone approaches ~50 Mt/yr of methanol: the output of roughly 5,000 Next Methanol plants (one per 60 t palm-oil mill, ~10,000 t/yr each).

Singapore bunkering hub

Singapore sold ~3,700 t/day of bio-bunkers in 2025 (+54% YoY) and has licensed methanol suppliers for 2026.

Indonesia’s B50 mandate (~2.5 Mt/yr)

Indonesia’s B50 mandate forces a 50% bio-blend into national diesel fuel which requires ~2.5 Mt/yr of methanol for esterification. This creates an immediate, government-backed domestic market for alternative green fuels.

Premium & CO₂ value

Certified marine-grade methanol earns a premium; the green methanol market may reach ~USD 11 bn by 2030.

Indicative biomethanol price EUR 600–1,000 / t

TECHNOLOGY STATUS

Validated at laboratory & proto scale

Reactor & catalyst proven

Reactor concept and catalytic process validated in laboratory and proto-scale testing (OST / UMTEC).

Measured productivity

≈ 350 mmol MeOH per gᵣₑₐᴄₜₒᵣ · cycle, with a short ~0.156 h cycle and no purge losses.

Beats literature benchmarks

Measured performance exceeds published results for comparable catalytic systems.

NEXT STEP: Real biogas testing + scale-up to demo

OUR STORY

Turning waste into value

For years, our interdisciplinary team searched for economically viable ways to convert agricultural residues into valuable products, focusing on palm oil mill wastewater in Southeast Asia. Thousands of remote mills generate methane-rich biogas, but without public grid access or gas pipelines, this energy remains underutilized.

To solve this, NextMethanol adopted a breakthrough catalytic technology developed by OST. By converting biogas directly into liquid biomethanol in a single step, we bypass complex multi-stage processing.

Methanol is a globally traded liquid fuel and chemical feedstock that uses existing transport infrastructure. By transforming decentralized biogas into a liquid product, previously stranded biomass resources become commercially accessible—cutting methane emissions and driving the transition to low-carbon fuels.

This vision became the foundation of NextMethanol. We believe that decentralized biomethanol production has the potential to unlock significant environmental and economic value while reducing methane emissions and supporting the transition toward low-carbon fuels.