Shunan city in west Japan's Yamaguchi prefecture and associated companies have outlined a 2050 decarbonisation plan for the Shunan industrial complex, including production of petrochemical goods from biomass and recycled feedstocks.
The complex consists of petrochemical, steel, cement and chemical plants. Members of the council promoting its decarbonisaton includes refiner Idemitsu, petrochemical producers Tosoh, Tokuyama and Zeon, stainless steel producer Nippon Steel Stainless Steel, the city of Shunan and Japan's Society of Chemical Engineers.
They aim to use domestic or imported wood materials, as well as alcohol and waste cooking oil, to generate biomass-based naphtha and bio-alcohol and manufacture bio-petrochemical goods and biofuels. They also target recycling waste plastics and garbage, along with capturing carbon dioxide, to produce bio-petrochemical goods and biofuels.
The council's plan includes use of hydrogen, ammonia and biomass fuel terminals at the Tokuyama Matsushita port. But the members have not decided further details like where to buy these fuels from and when to begin supplying to domestic consumers.
Idemitsu, Tosoh, Tokuyama and Zeon have also partnered on exploring a ammonia distribution network at the Shunan industrial complex by using government subsidies. The group aims to set up a network supplying over 1mn t/yr of carbon-free ammonia by 2030 at the complex. The city of Shunan proposed boosting biomass fuel production by planting fast-growing trees in response to growing demand from Idemitsu's 50MW Tokuyama biomass-fired power generation plant and Tokuyama's 300MW coal- and biomass-fired power plant. Tosoh and Tokuyama may also consider raising biomass firing rates at their in-house coal-fired power plants.
Japanese firms have attempted to work together to achieve carbon neutral operations at industrial complexes. Petrochemical company Mitsui Chemicals and gas utility Osaka Gas have started a feasibility study of carbon capture, use and storage at their Osaka plants. Partners across different industries have decided to co-operate in decarbonising the Goi and Soga industrial complex in east Japan's Chiba prefecture by 2050.
