NOVELTY - Preparation of methanol comprises: feeding hydrocarbon feedstock (14) and oxygen feedstock (16) to partial oxidation reactor (10) to produce partial oxidation reactor effluent comprising hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide; adding hydrogen feedstock (20), which is exogenous to hydrocarbon feedstock, to the effluent to produce synthesis gas stream (18); and subjecting the gas stream to methanol synthesis to produce methanol product stream (26) and tail gas stream (24), where reformation is not used to provide the hydrogen feedstock.    USE - The method is useful to prepare methanol, which is a synthetic fuel and is useful as a substitute fuel for gasoline and diesel.    ADVANTAGE - The method produces methanol with reduced emission of carbon dioxide as a by-product. The process utilizes partial oxidation reactor that produces tail gas stream containing unreacted synthesis gases including carbon dioxide and a purge stream is removed to prevent the build up of inert gases within it. The remainder of the stream, or essentially all of the remainder of the stream, is recycled to the partial oxidation reactor and in this way, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane are recycled through the system essentially to extinction except for the purge stream. The amount of greenhouse gases emitted by the process effectively depends upon the relative size of the purge gas stream to the recycle stream, i.e. the larger the recycle stream, the smaller the greenhouse gases that are emitted. The oxygen used in the partial oxidation reactor contains pure oxygen so that it does not introduce substantial quantities of nitrogen. The electricity utilized in operating the electrolysis step is obtained as off-peak or valley power from a power grid and the use of valley power to run at least a portion of the electrolysis step is highly beneficial, because, if there is a power shortage then a supply of hydrogen and oxygen is provided from the storage tanks in which the oxygen and hydrogen produced by electrolysis is stored. In the method, amount of hydrogen produced exceeds the amount of hydrogen required to produce the desired stoichiometric balance of the synthesis gas that is fed to the methanol synthesizer, thus the process produces hydrogen as a valuable commercial product.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Preparation of methanol comprises: feeding hydrocarbon feedstock (14) and oxygen feedstock (16) to partial oxidation reactor (10) to produce partial oxidation reactor effluent comprising hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide; adding hydrogen feedstock (20), which is exogenous to hydrocarbon feedstock, to the effluent to produce synthesis gas stream (18) having predetermined ratio of hydrogen to carbon monoxide; and subjecting the gas stream to methanol synthesis to produce methanol product stream (26) and tail gas stream (24), where reformation is not used to provide the hydrogen feedstock.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The figure shows the schematic drawing of the preparation of methanol.    Partial oxygen reactor (10)    Methanol synthesis reactor (12)    Hydrocarbon feedstock (14)    Oxygen feedstock (16)    Synthesis gas (18, 22)    Hydrogen feedstock (20)    Tail gas (24)    Methanol. (26)