{"id":131264,"date":"2023-09-07T07:20:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T05:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=131264"},"modified":"2023-08-31T13:00:26","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T11:00:26","slug":"plastic-without-oil-japan-tech-to-use-co2-and-water-for-precursor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/plastic-without-oil-japan-tech-to-use-co2-and-water-for-precursor\/","title":{"rendered":"Plastic without oil: Japan tech to use CO2 and water for precursor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Japanese chemical company Asahi Kasei aims to commercialize a new way to make a plastic ingredient from carbon dioxide and water using electricity, Nikkei has learned, offering a potential game changer for decarbonization in the plastics industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Asahi
Asahi Kasei has mass produced plastics raw materials until now at its petrochemical complexes, such as this one in Kurashiki, Okayama prefecture. (Photo by Shoya Okinaga)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The technology can be used to produce ethylene, a material for plastics used in automobiles and home appliances that is typically derived from petroleum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through Asahi Kasei’s process, gaseous carbon dioxide and a water-based electrolytic solution are fed into a device and separated by a membrane. Electricity is passed through them with electrodes, causing a chemical reaction that produces ethylene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asahi Kasei has applied know-how cultivated in hydrogen production and electrolysis technology to the development of the separation membrane. The company also has experience in the catalyst technology that promotes the chemical reactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other players have been working on producing feedstocks for ethylene through a reaction between carbon dioxide and hydrogen. But Asahi Kasei’s method requires fewer steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company will first establish a small-scale test production facility that requires dozens of kilowatts of electricity in Japan in 2026, with production at a large-scale facility with a 10,000kW-class system planned by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company will develop mass production technology by 2035, ultimately making a decision whether to just manufacture ethylene in-house or provide the technology to other parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asahi Kasei aims to eventually have an annual ethylene production capacity of over 10,000 tonnes using the new method, equivalent to 2% of the groupwide total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japan’s chemical sector accounts for about 10% of all industrial carbon dioxide emissions, the second largest portion after steel. Asahi Kasei will use renewably-sourced electricity for its ethylene production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to reducing the need for petroleum and lowering the environmental burden, the method would also facilitate the domestic production of plastic raw materials. Producing ethylene in multiple regions of the country where renewable energy is abundant would help ensure a stable supply of the material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cost remains an issue. Even using cheap electricity, ethylene made with Asahi Kasei’s new method could still be significantly more expensive than standard petroleum-derived plastic raw materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ethylene can also be produced using plant-based sources. Brazilian chemicals group Braskem has commercialized a proprietary technology to produce ethylene from ethanol derived from sugar cane pulp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But plant-based methods are limited. There has also been a growing focus on methods that use renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Japanese chemical company Asahi Kasei aims to commercialize a new way to make a plastic ingredient from carbon dioxide and water using electricity, Nikkei has learned, offering a potential game changer for decarbonization in the plastics industry. The technology can be used to produce ethylene, a material for plastics used in automobiles and home appliances […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"Asahi Kasei seeks sustainable, petroleum-free method to cut carbon emissions","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572,5571],"tags":[10744,10416,14144,5627,22662,10630,10743],"supplier":[4356,1604],"class_list":["post-131264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","category-co2-based","tag-carboncapture","tag-circulareconomy","tag-electrolysis","tag-energy","tag-grenchemistry","tag-hydrogen","tag-useco2","supplier-asahi-kasei-corp","supplier-braskem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131264\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131264"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=131264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}