Macheli, LMukeru, BMDuma, Zama GPatel, BJewell, LL2026-06-052026-06-052026-051879-06901364-0321https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2026.116808http://hdl.handle.net/10204/14820Methanol synthesis from captured CO2 is widely regarded as a promising pathway for carbon utilization, yet its feasibility depends heavily on the characteristics and constraints of the CO2 source. This review evaluates four industrial point sources—biogas, steel plants, cement kilns, and waste-to-energy facilities—highlighting key differences in CO2 purity, contaminant load, hydrogen integration, and catalyst stability. We propose a five-axis viability framework, developed through a synthesis of current literature, to structure source-specific comparison and guide system-level evaluation. The framework includes CO2 usability, hydrogen vulnerability, contaminant burden, integration potential, and policy exposure. By applying this structured lens, the review identifies key performance-limiting trade-offs, techno-economic constraints, and integration barriers across point sources. Results show that biogas and steel off-gases offer favourable trade-offs (scores of 15–18/25), while cement and waste-to-energy streams face major integration and degradation challenges (≤9/25). Reforming pathways, gas conditioning requirements and modular deployment considerations are also discussed. This review concludes that effective CO2-to-methanol deployment requires source-specific process design, improved ontaminant-tolerant catalysts, and better alignment of infrastructure and policy to the heterogeneous nature of industrial CO2 sources.FulltextenCO2 utilizationMethanol synthesisIndustrial point sourcesSyngas reformingHydrogen integrationContaminant managementDecarbonization strategiesArticleN/A