2024.12.26
News release- Nippon Steel Engineering Co., Ltd.
Completion of the Second-Generation Bioethanol Production Facility for the Research Association of Biomass Innovation for Next Generation Automobile Fuels
Nippon Steel Engineering Co., Ltd. (Representative Director and President: Yukito Ishiwa; Head Office: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter, "NSE") has completed construction of the Second-Generation Bioethanol Production Facility *1) for the Research Association of Biomass Innovation for Next Generation Automobile Fuels *2) (Chairman of the Board: Koichi Nakata, Headquarters: Town of Okuma, Futaba County, Fukushima Prefecture; hereinafter "the Research Association").
The latest second-generation bioethanol production process that NSE developed and optimized in collaboration with automobile manufacturers*3) and consumer goods chemical manufacturers*4) was introduced into this facility. The engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning of the entire facility for pretreatment, saccharification, fermentation, and distillation required for the Second-Generation Bioethanol Production were carried out under a full turn-key contract for the first time by the NSE. The Research Association plans to use non-edible lignocellulosic biomass such as herbaceous plants for bioethanol production.
This facility will be used for research and development by the Research Association to efficiently produce bioethanol fuel for automobiles by optimum circulation of hydrogen, oxygen, and CO2 during biomass utilization and production. NSE will contribute to the sustainable social development initiatives aimed at by the Research Association through engineering focused services in relation to second-generation bioethanol production technology.
The second-generation bioethanol production technology does not only contribute significantly to decarbonization of transportation and chemical industries but also holds further potential for utilizing high-concentration CO2 and residues (low-condensation lignin) derived from biomass during the production process. NSE will contribute to the realization of a decarbonized society through the provision of comprehensive solutions related to the second-generation bioethanol by combining our CCUS (carbon capture, utilization, and storage) technology.
- *1) The second-generation bioethanol production process uses herbaceous non-edible biomass, which consists mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose, and other polysaccharides that are difficult to decompose, as feedstocks. Thus, the process requires pretreatment and saccharification of the feedstocks. The process of second-generation bioethanol production can be roughly divided into four steps:
a) Pretreatment: Raw biomass is pretreated through a combination of steaming and steam explosion
b) Saccharification: Pretreated biomass is saccharified by enzymes
c) Fermentation: A saccharified solution is fermented by yeast to produce a fermented ethanol solution
d) Distillation and purification: A fermented ethanol solution is distilled and purified
- *2) An Overview of the Research Association of Biomass Innovation for Next Generation Automobile Fuels
Date of establishment: July 1, 2022
Members: ENEOS Corporation, Suzuki Motor Corporation, Subaru Corporation, Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd., Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, and Mazda Motor Corporation
URL: https://rabit.or.jp/ - *3) To pretreat non-edible biomass feedstocks (① in the figure), NSE has established an optimal method of pretreatment by evaluating and developing various methods of pretreatment with Toyota Motor Corporation (hereinafter "Toyota"). In fermentation (③ in the figure), Toyota XyloAceTM developed by Toyota is used to efficiently ferment xylose, which natural yeast has difficulty fermenting. This enables the use of most of the sugar derived from herbaceous non-edible biomass material (cellulose) as ethanol
- *4) For saccharification (② in the figure), NSE has been collaborating with Kao Corporation (hereinafter "Kao") to jointly develop an on-site enzyme production technique using enzyme-producing bacteria that can efficiently decompose inedible biomass. The new bioethanol production facility will use saccharification enzymes developed by Kao that can efficiently saccharify inedible biomass.
References: https://chemical.kao.com/global/bio/topics/news-06 - The efforts in *3 and *4 are expected to increase the yield of bioethanol and reduce its production cost.
For more information, please contact the following
URL: https://www.eng.nipponsteel.com/en/enquete/all/