Course 12 of 20 · Hydrogen Desk Academy

Methanol & Other Derivative Offtakes

Stage C, Exposure, delivery and derivative demand. Level 6 of 10.

Methanol and other derivative offtakes, where the product competes directly against an established fossil-based equivalent with an observable price.

120 chapters · 11 modules · every chapter one 8 to 10 minute explainer · builds on: Course 02, Course 10, Course 11

Enrol or enquire See the 120 chapters
How a chapter is delivered

One chapter is one idea taken to the point of use

Each chapter covers one idea to the point where you can use it, and comes two ways: a narrated explainer, and a deep dive audio discussion of around thirty minutes that works the same material at depth.

Self-paced throughout, and the same chapters can be taught as a cohort. Chapters run in order: each one assumes only what the chapters before it taught, and capability belonging to a later course is named and deferred rather than half-covered.

Curriculum

11 modules · 120 chapters

Open any module for its full chapter list, in teaching order.

M0 The Derivative That Already Has a Price Ch 1-11
  1. Why a Visible Competing Price Changes Every Conversation
  2. The Three Derivative Families This Material Covers
  3. What the Buyer Already Knows Before the Meeting
  4. Why the Carrier Netback Does Not Transfer to This Desk
  5. The Premium Problem Stated Without Decoration
  6. Four Sources a Premium Can Be Drawn From
  7. When No Premium Is Available at All
  8. Methanol as the Spine of the Argument
  9. Carbon as a Purchased Input, Not Only an Attribute
  10. Three Products, Three Denominators
  11. The Order the Comparison Work Is Built In
M1 Making the Molecule and Meeting the Specification Ch 12-21
  1. The Synthesis Reaction and What It Consumes
  2. The Water By-Product and the Hydrogen It Carries Away
  3. Reverse Water Gas Shift as the Alternative Route
  4. Gasification Routes Where the Carbon Arrives as a Solid
  5. The Gas-Reformed Incumbent You Are Priced Against
  6. The Coal-Gasified Incumbent and What It Changes
  7. Reading the IMPCA Methanol Reference Specification
  8. Why Your Tonne Is Physically Indistinguishable
  9. By-Product Oxygen, Heat and Whether Anyone Buys Them
  10. An Illustrative Input Bill for One Tonne
M2 The Carbon Stream Ch 22-32
  1. Four Carbon Sources and What Each Commits You To
  2. Fermentation and Biogas Carbon Dioxide
  3. Cement and Waste Incineration as Hosts
  4. Direct Air Capture and Why It Dominates a Cost Sheet
  5. Carbon Dioxide Purity and the Catalyst That Pays for It
  6. Contracting the Carbon Supply
  7. Who Owns the Carbon's Emission Attribute
  8. When Fossil-Sourced Carbon Disqualifies the Product
  9. Carbon Availability as a Siting Constraint
  10. Expressing Carbon Cost Per Tonne of Product
  11. The Recycled Fossil Carbon Argument and Its Assumptions
M3 The Incumbent Market and Its References Ch 33-43
  1. How Conventional Methanol Actually Changes Hands
  2. Posted Regional Contract References
  3. Spot Assessments and the Locations They Cover
  4. Why Asian Coal Capacity Can Set the Marginal Tonne
  5. The Gas Curve Behind the Conventional Cost
  6. Regional Spreads and the Freight That Creates Them
  7. The Discount Off the Posting
  8. Choosing Which Reference the Contract Names
  9. Reading the Comparison Forward Where Liquidity Is Thin
  10. A Volatile Comparator Against a Fixed Premium
  11. The Comparison Sheet on One Page
M4 Which End Uses Can Fund a Premium Ch 44-55
  1. Mapping Methanol Demand by End Use
  2. Formaldehyde and the Resin Chain
  3. Acetic Acid and Its Downstream Users
  4. Fuel Ether and Gasoline Blending
  5. Methanol to Olefins as a Petrochemical Route
  6. Marine Fuel and the Vessels Built for It
  7. Why Shipping Carries an Obligation and Chemicals Largely Do Not
  8. The Brand-Led Chain Argument and Its Assumptions
  9. Methanol to Jet as a Route Into Aviation Obligation
  10. Power Generation and the Thin Case for It
  11. The Argument That Chemical Buyers Will Not Pay
  12. Ranking End Uses by Premium Capacity
M5 Premium Structures Against a Visible Comparator Ch 56-67
  1. The Premium as an Explicit Line Over a Named Reference
  2. A Fixed Cash Premium and Who Carries the Comparator
  3. A Proportional Premium and Why It Behaves Differently
  4. A Floor at the Producer's Delivered Cost
  5. A Cap Tied to the Conventional Reference
  6. Splitting the Tonne: Molecule at Reference, Attribute Priced Apart
  7. Which Buyers the Split Structure Reaches
  8. Mass Balance for an Ambient Liquid
  9. Blending Renewable and Conventional Methanol in One Tank
  10. A Clawback If the Incumbent Price Collapses
  11. Which Comparator Event Should Trigger a Reopener
  12. An Illustrative Premium Structure Argued Through
M6 Synthetic Fuels as Offtakes Ch 68-79
  1. From Methanol to Hydrocarbon: the Onward Conversion Choice
  2. Fischer-Tropsch as the Other Route to the Same Products
  3. The Slate Problem: Why Kerosene Does Not Arrive Alone
  4. Valuing the Co-Product Cuts Against Their Own References
  5. Jet Fuel as the Comparator
  6. Qualification Under the Synthesised Fuel Standard
  7. The Blend Limit and the Volume It Addresses
  8. Synthetic Diesel Against Automotive Gasoil
  9. Synthetic Methane Against a Gas Hub Reference
  10. Why Aviation Is the Likeliest Payer, and the Case Against
  11. The Road Fuel Case and Why It Is Weaker
  12. An Illustrative Synthetic Kerosene Comparison
M7 Hydrogen Sold Into Iron Reduction Ch 80-91
  1. Why Ironmaking Belongs in This Course
  2. The Blast Furnace Route and the Carbon It Needs
  3. Gas-Based Direct Reduction as the Nearer Comparator
  4. Hydrogen Direct Reduction and the Consumption Per Tonne
  5. The Electric Furnace and the Power It Adds
  6. Scrap Availability and the Ceiling It Sets
  7. Direct Reduction Grade Pellet and Its Premium
  8. The Coil Comparator: Assessments and Listed Contracts
  9. Where a Coil Premium Is Observed and Where It Is Asserted
  10. Passing a Coil Premium Back to a Hydrogen Price
  11. What a Reduction Plant Needs Beyond Volume
  12. An Illustrative Pass-Through From Coil to Hydrogen
M8 When the Premium Cannot Be Justified Ch 92-101
  1. Telling a Structural Gap From a Temporary One
  2. How Low the Conventional Cost Can Actually Go
  3. Carbon Pricing as a Closer, and Where It Stops Short
  4. Selling a Smaller Low-Carbon Share
  5. Changing End Use Rather Than Changing Price
  6. Different Buyers for the Molecule and the Attribute
  7. Walking Away and What That Decision Costs
  8. Deferring to a Later Window and What It Assumes
  9. Reporting an Unbridgeable Gap to a Board
  10. The Argument That the Gap Closes on Its Own
M9 Choosing Among Derivatives Ch 102-111
  1. One Hydrogen Stream, Several Possible Derivatives
  2. The Conversion Penalty Each Derivative Imposes
  3. How a Derivative Plant Fixes the Electrolyser's Shape
  4. Serving Two Derivatives From One Plant
  5. Sequencing: Which Derivative to Contract First
  6. Correlation Between the Comparators
  7. The Shared Carbon Stream as a Binding Constraint
  8. Credit Quality Across Different Derivative Buyers
  9. Reversible and Irreversible Elements of the Choice
  10. An Illustrative Derivative Selection Defended
M10 A Worked Project and the Limits Ch 112-120
  1. A Coastal Methanol Project, Part One: The Facts
  2. A Coastal Methanol Project, Part Two: Cost and Comparator
  3. A Coastal Methanol Project, Part Three: The Premium by End Use
  4. A Coastal Methanol Project, Part Four: The Structure Proposed
  5. A Coastal Methanol Project, Part Five: The Downside Case
  6. What a Comparator Comparison Cannot Tell You
  7. Where This Hands Off to the Project Courses
  8. The Standing Comparator Input List
  9. What a Derivatives Desk Can Now Defend

The brochure gives each of these 120 chapters a paragraph on what it covers and what you can do once you have worked through it.

This is course 12 of twenty

It stands alone, and it is also the entry point to the Hydrogen Desk Academy pathway.

Enrol or enquire See the whole pathway