Mitsui Chemical to invest US$13.8 mln for a new pilot facility to produce methanol from CO2

01-Sep-08

Japanese firm, Mitsui Chemicals Inc. (MCI) has decided to begin construction of a test facility which will be used to continue the company's efforts to develop a methanol synthesis process from CO2. Set to begin construction by October 2008, MCI's pilot facility at its Osaka Works site is expected to complete by February 2009 and will be put into use from March 2010. This will require an investment of Yen 1.5 bln (approx.US$13.8 mln) and have a production capacity of 100 tpa (translated into methanol production volume). This pilot testing facility is a part of the firm's new Mid-term Business Plan to operate under the concept of creating new values through the completion of the three dimensional strategy consisting of Economy, Environment and Society and the generation of new technologies. In the Environment area of the plan, MCI aims at significant curtailment in green house gases through new processes. Hence, MCI has been pushing forward the development of "Chemical immobilization of CO2," which synthesizes methanol, later used in the production of olefins and aromatics, using the CO2 emitted from factories and hydrogen obtained from water photolysis. MCI takes a step further in the efforts to industrialize this technology, establishing a pilot facility aimed at putting methanol synthesis and the separation and capture processes for CO2 into practical use. MCI has already succeeded in developing ultra-high-activity catalysts, which will be upgraded and used at the new pilot facility. Also, MCI's "Chemical CO2 Immobilization Project," which uses CO2 as a raw material, is the ultimate environmentally friendly new technology and, if industrialized in the future, will cut CO2 generation significantly.