As the global "dual carbon" goals are advanced, carbon dioxide (CO₂) is no longer simply a "greenhouse gas" but a valuable, recyclable carbon source. CO₂ hydrogenation to methanol technology, owing to its combined carbon reduction and resource utilization value, has become a key approach to achieving a "closed carbon loop" in the chemical industry. This technology not only consumes industrial CO₂ emissions (such as power plant flue gas and steel mill exhaust) but also produces methanol, a key chemical feedstock (which can be used to produce olefins, aromatics, or as a clean fuel), seamlessly bridging the entire "carbon capture-conversion-utilization" chain.

Current technological breakthroughs are concentrated in three key areas. First, catalyst innovation: While traditional copper-based catalysts (Cu-Zn-Al) are highly active, they are prone to sintering at high temperatures and have a short lifespan (approximately 1500 hours). The recently developed "copper-zinc-zirconium-rare earth" quaternary composite catalyst utilizes rare earth elements (such as La and Ce) to modulate the electronic structure, increasing catalyst activity by 20%, enhancing sintering resistance, and extending catalyst life to over 3,000 hours. Furthermore, the use of mesoporous SiO₂ or carbon nanotubes as a support optimizes catalyst dispersion, further reducing the activation energy for CO₂ conversion, lowering the reaction temperature from 280°C to 240°C and reducing energy consumption by 18%.

Secondly, process system optimization is crucial: Traditional CO₂ hydrogenation to methanol requires high pressures of 3.0-5.0 MPa, resulting in high equipment investment and energy consumption. Currently, through the "reaction-separation" coupling technology, methanol synthesis reactors are connected in series with membrane separation units to separate the generated methanol in real time, breaking the reaction thermodynamic equilibrium and increasing the CO₂ single-pass conversion rate from 25% to 40%. Some companies are also combining this process with photovoltaic hydrogen production, using hydrogen produced from green electricity as a feedstock, achieving a zero-carbon "green electricity-green hydrogen-green methanol" process. In one pilot project, the carbon footprint of methanol products was reduced by 92% compared to traditional petrochemical methods.

Substantial progress has been made in industrialization: a Chinese energy company has built the world's first 100,000 tons/year CO₂ hydrogenation-to-methanol unit. Utilizing a proprietary composite catalyst and coupled process, it consumes approximately 150,000 tons of CO₂ and produces 80,000 tons of methanol annually. The product has been successfully used in downstream MTO (methanol-to-olefins) units. The European Union has also launched a 25,000 tons/year demonstration project in the Netherlands, providing a model for "off-gas resource utilization" in chemical parks. In the future, with the further development of AI reaction optimization systems (real-time adjustment of parameters such as temperature, pressure, and hydrogen-carbon ratio) and new catalysts (such as single-atom catalysts), the cost of CO₂ hydrogenation to methanol is expected to drop another 15%-20%, and expand to downstream scenarios such as "methanol hydrogen production" and "methanol fuel cells", truly building a carbon cycle ecosystem of "CO₂-methanol-high value-added products", and providing a replicable technical paradigm for the low-carbon transformation of the chemical industry.