The Minister of Industry and Commerce, Javier Giménez, together with the Vice Minister of Rediex, Rodrigo Maluff, received a group of Austrian investors interested in installing a green methanol plant in Paraguay. According to visitors, the country has all the elements as raw materials to obtain this type of fuel based on renewable energy sources.
Austrian businessmen interested in making an investment source for the installation of a green methanol plant in the country which, in principle, would be a pilot with an investment of USD 75 million and with an investment projection of USD 500 million, with a view to the export to the European market.
In this regard, the head of REDIEX, Rodrigo Maluff, indicated that the visit of the representatives of Parafuel, a Paraguayan company with a company established in Austria, which for six months has been actively structuring a methanol production project in Paraguay from green and renewable energies.
He maintained that the initiative is ambitious, but it starts with a plant that seeks to produce 1,500,000 liters of methanol. “Methanol is a synthetic product with the combination of a product that is in vogue today, hydrogen as a tool for the generation of alternative fuels to fossils, and thus mixes hydrogen with a CO2 molecule captured from the environment, thus seeking also be circular,” he explained.
He added that it is a type of fuel used today by airlines, although in a tiny percentage, tending to grow each year. The Vice Minister said that the idea is to install a model plant in less than 12 months and that they intend to locate it in the department of Concepción, but that they continue to talk about the area with the best projection.
“It is planned in 3 phases, with the first in a pilot plant and an investment of USD 75 million, the second part already with a consumption that goes from 3 megabytes to 40 megabytes and an investment of USD 250 million, being ready in 2029 and the third starting in 2029 where they would
go to 90 megabytes of consumption, already investing USD 500 million,” he noted.
A mature technology in the world
For his part, engineer Michel Galeano, researcher at the Faculty of Chemical Sciences of the National University of Asunción (UNA), who accompanied the delegation, maintained that the meeting with Minister Giménez was beneficial.
Regarding the market for this type of alternative fuel, Galeano said that it is targeting the regional market, but mainly the European market, where the need for synthetic fuel of green origin is already a growing obligation, mainly for the aviation sector.
“The technology is already mature, in the world there are several projects, mainly in Europe, on green methanol, a synthetic fuel,” he said.
As a result of this requirement, European countries are turning their interest to investing in the production of this type of synthetic fuel in countries with the necessary raw materials or natural resources, as is the case of Paraguay.