Fairway Methanol LLC, a US-based 50-50 joint venture between Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ("Mitsui", Head Office: Tokyo, President and CEO: Kenichi Hori) and Celanese Corporation, a global specialty materials and chemical company, has begun the production of methanol by using carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitted from plants surrounding the joint venture's facility. Fairway Methanol is expected to capture 180 thousand metric tons of CO₂ and produce 130 thousand metric tons of low-carbon methanol per year, which leads its annual production capacity to 1.63 million metric tons per year.

This additional methanol production, using industry-derived CO₂, is one of the carbon capture and utilization (CCU) projects that Mitsui has undertaken. The concept behind these projects considers CO₂ as a resource that can be reused as a raw material, thus realizing carbon recycling and helping to reduce CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere. This project provides Mitsui with another low-carbon solution in its methanol business portfolio, following the bio-methanol (mass-balance basis) production at Fairway Methanol and the e-methanol production at Solar Park Kasso, Denmark.

In its Medium-term Management Plan 2026, Mitsui has identified Global Energy Transition as one of its Key Strategic Initiatives. In the course of building a next-generation fuel value chain, we assume that CCU fosters circularity by using emitted CO₂ to create various chemical products that can reduce the need for fossil fuels and thereby contributes to the sustainable development of the whole of society.

• Mitsui Invests in the World's First e-Methanol Production & Sales Business in Denmark (Jul. 6, 2023)
• [Topics] Asahi Kasei and Mitsui establish supply and procurement system for bio-methanol (Jun. 8, 2023)
• [Topics] U.S. JV to increase production of methanol derived from CO2 (Mar. 26, 2021)
• Methanol Manufacturing Business in Texas Commences Production (Oct. 16, 2015)