How is methanol made commercially from carbon monoxide and hydrogen?

Commercially, methanol is produced through the direct catalytic reaction of carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas. This process is conducted under conditions of high temperature and pressure in the presence of a catalyst.12

The mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen required for this synthesis—often referred to as syngas—can be generated by the partial burning of coal in the presence of water, with the ratio of the two gases carefully regulated. In modern industrial applications, syngas is also increasingly derived from biomass through thermal conversion processes like gasification.213