Press Release Back Number(2004)

Japan's First Pilot Plant for Conversion of Wood Waste to Alcohol Fuel Commences Operations
- Toward commercial application of biomass energy technology -

May 13, 2004

On May 17, with partners Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. began operating Japan's first pilot plant for manufacturing liquid alcohol fuel (methanol) from wood-based biomass such as wood waste.

This project was commissioned by New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) as part of efforts to develop high-efficiency biomass energy conversion technologies. Chubu Electric Power will perform technical verification tests, using the pilot plant constructed on the premises of its Kawagoe Thermal Power Station (Kawagoe-cho, Mie-gun, Mie Prefecture).

In recent years, Japan's abundant wood-based biomass has drawn increasing scrutiny as a potential energy resource, particularly since burning methanol derived from these materials would help solve problems related to greenhouse gas emissions. However, wood-based biomass is a bulky solid that is less convenient to transport than other types of fuel. These characteristics have limited use to local small-scale facilities for direct-fired systems.

The innovations of the recently-developed technology lie in the capacity they offer to convert trees, driftwood collected at dams, and other wood waste into liquid fuel for easy transport, storage, handling, and use. In this process, wood waste is pulverized into wood-based biomass, after which oxygen and steam are added, then separated by a gasification furnace into carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Under high temperature and pressure, this material is converted into methanol, a known clean-burning fuel suitable for use in place of conventional fossil fuels (diesel oil and LNG) in small boilers and cogeneration systems (heat and electricity generating systems), as well as a fuel material in fuel cells.

An alternative method for producing alcohol fuel from biomass is to ferment sugar and starch to produce ethanol. Compared to this method, the newly developed technology offers several advantages, including the capacity to make use of all parts (stalks, leaves, fruits, etc.) of the plant-based biomass and high fuel conversion efficiency (40% to 50% by weight).

Tests will be performed at the pilot plant to verify the series of processes, from pretreatment of biomass materials to gasification and methanol production, for practical applications and commercial feasibility.