Japanese petrochemical producer Sumitomo Chemical has started pilot production of methanol from CO2 in Japan's southern Ehime prefecture, targeting commercialisation during the 2030s.
Sumitomo Chemical aims to complete the demonstration project at its Ehime works site in Niihama by 2028. It also plans to start licensing its methanol production technology using CO2 during the 2030s, it said on 12 December.
Methanol is a raw material for products like plastics, adhesives, chemical agents and paints. Sumitomo Chemical did not disclose the planned output capacity of its future methanol-from-CO2 plant.
The company will use CO2 and hydrogen captured from its Ehime works site for the pilot plant. Sumitomo Chemical's Ehime works site produces a wide range of commodity products including fertilizers, methyl methacrylate, sulphuric acid, fine chemical products and ammonia-based products such as acrylonitrile and methionine. The company is also considering using synthesised gas — generated from waste and biomass — to produce methanol once commercial operations begin.
Sumitomo Chemical received financial support from Japan's economy, trade and industry ministry's green innovation fund for the project.
It separately plans to build a demonstration plant in Japan's eastern Chiba prefecture to produce propylene directly from ethanol, targeting commercialisation by the first half of the 2030s.
