Sekisui Chemical completes construction of a waste-to-ethanol demo plant

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 Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.


Sekisui Chemical and Sekisui Bio Refinery (SBR) have completed construction of a demonstration plant in Kuji City (Iwate, Japan) with the aim of demonstrating the viability of a technology that converts municipal/industrial waste into ethanol on a commercial scale. This technology uses a microbial catalyst and gas fermentation process that was jointly developed by Sekisui Chemical and LanzaTech.

Figure 1. Sekisui Chemical completes construction of a waste-to-ethanol demo plant

This first of its kind demonstration plant was constructed with investments from SBR, a joint venture between SEKISUI CHEMICAL and INJC, a private-public fund overseen by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). It has also received funding from the Japanese Ministry of the Environment.

The parties will use this facility to validate the technology and commerciality of scaling up, system optimization, stable operations, and business feasibility. This demonstration plant is approximately 1/10th the size of a commercial plant, and ethanol will be produced from municipal waste sourced from Kuji City, which will total approximately 20 tons per day. In addition to proving the technical feasibility of this technology, the demonstration plant aims to show the long-term benefits of resource recycling. It will be open to tours by municipalities, waste management companies, and other interested stakeholders to spread awareness of the new technology and its products.

In parallel with testing at the demonstration plant, SBR and Sekisui Chemical will collaborate with local municipalities and private companies (waste disposal companies etc.) on discussions regarding waste material supply as well as with ethanol users (resource recycling companies etc.). The first commercial-scale facility is targeted to begin production in 2025.

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