Japan-headed global chemicals major Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd has announced that the chemical recycling technology development projects that the company is implementing with partnering companies and academia to contribute to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050—two projects comprising four themes—have been selected by the National Research and Development Agency, New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) for their "Green Innovation Fund Project/Development of Manufacturing Technology of Plastic Raw Material Using CO2 and others."
The Green Innovation Fund Project is a government-led initiative toward achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, with a JPY 2 trillion fund created under NEDO by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).
This project is intended to provide continuous support for green innovation efforts undertaken by companies and other organizations with ambitious goals, from research, development, and demonstration to implementation in society, over the coming ten years.
Plastic is a useful material that supports people’s daily lives and is used in various applications such as automobiles, aircraft, electronic devices, and various packaging materials.
On the other hand, reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) into the environment, from the manufacturing of plastic products from fossil resources and the incinerating of waste plastics, has become a pressing global issue.
Develop chemical recycling technologies
Under these circumstances, there is a strong demand for the full-scale implementation of chemical recycling technology that manufactures chemicals using waste plastics and carbon dioxide (CO2) as raw materials, instead of fossil resources.
Sumitomo Chemical aims to maximize the results through collaboration across the selected themes.
The two projects including four themes selected for NEDO funding are as follows:
1 – Development of chemical recycling technology using waste plastics
(i) Producing olefins through direct cracking of waste plastics – this project is to develop and demonstrate catalysts and processes for efficient production of raw materials for basic chemicals, such as ethylene and propylene, from waste polyolefin plastics, such as polyethylene and polypropylene.
Sumitomo Chemical, in collaboration with the Muroran Institute of Technology, will work on catalyst development, including improving resistance to dissimilar plastics, by utilizing the results of their joint research implemented since March 2020.
In addition, Sumitomo Chemical will develop efficient and stable reaction processes by leveraging its knowledge of monomer manufacturing processes. Maruzen Petrochemical Co., Ltd will utilize its expertise and know-how regarding naphtha crackers to study the separation and refining of raw materials for basic chemical products, as well as check the quality of by-product oil and consider using it as a raw material for naphtha crackers.
(ii) Ethanol production using synthetic gas derived from waste plastics – this project is to develop and demonstrate catalysts and processes for producing ethanol using synthetic gas obtained from waste plastics made up of a wide variety of components as raw materials.
The catalyst development will be jointly carried out by Sumitomo Chemical and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), which has a wealth of knowledge on high-speed catalyst preparation, reaction evaluation, and catalyst informatics using a high-throughput system, and process development and demonstration will be conducted by Sumitomo Chemical.
2 – Development of technology for manufacturing chemicals from alcohols
(iii) Efficient alcohol production from CO2 – this project is to develop and demonstrate catalysts and processes for efficient production of alcohols, such as ethanol and methanol, using CO2 and hydrogen as raw materials.
The catalyst for ethanol production will be jointly developed by Sumitomo Chemical and AIST. Regarding the development of technology to manufacture methanol, Sumitomo Chemical, and Shimane University will accelerate their joint efforts even further by utilizing the results of their joint research on catalyst improvement and internal condensation reactors implemented since September 2020.
Sumitomo Chemical will also consider applying the internal condensation reactor to ethanol production.
(iv) Olefin production from alcohols – this project is to develop and demonstrate catalysts and processes for producing high-yield C3 and higher olefins such as propylene, using ethanol as the main raw material.
The catalyst will be jointly developed by Sumitomo Chemical and AIST, while Sumitomo Chemical will develop the manufacturing process and confirm the viability of the entire process through large-scale demonstration.
