The Paris Agreement aims to keep the global average temperature rise “well below 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels, and to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C”. And now, what is being called for worldwide is the realization of “carbon neutrality”. Various measures are being discussed for the realization of carbon neutrality, such as reviewing power composition and transforming transportation methods, but in today’s report, we would like to look at carbon recycling, which requires new technological innovation and can create promising growth opportunities and investment opportunities!

Carbon recycling is a movement to recycle CO2 as a raw material for chemicals, fuels, and minerals. This movement is attracting attention as one of CCU (Carbon dioxide Capture and Utilization), and many companies are paying attention and advancing research and development because they can manufacture a wide range of substances. And HighChem’s business is also heavily involved in this technological innovation of carbon recycling!

Co-op’s Dry Ice is also CCU! Direct Use of CO2

In the category of direct use of CO2, what is on the market in Japan is for drinking, cooling, and welding purposes, and about 1 million tons per year are used. Among them, what is familiar to us is dry ice used for cooling purposes, which is used for home delivery such as for co-ops. Other than dry ice and drinking, there are many industrial applications, and the largest application is for welding in the automobile industry, steel structures, bridges, and shipbuilding. In addition, it is also used for purposes such as promoting the growth of tomatoes and lettuce by increasing the CO2 concentration in plant factories.

Already Commercialized in the US! Effective Use of CO2 by EOR (Enhanced Oil Recovery) 

In the United States, CO2 is already about 90 million tons/year as carbonic acid gas, and about 90% of it is used for EOR (Enhanced Oil Recovery).

Fuel from CO2

Looking at the flow of the world’s primary energy, oil, coal, and natural gas alone supply 87%, and 97% of that is consumed as energy. In other words, in order to realize a carbon-neutral society, it is necessary to reuse CO2 from energy sources as energy. Now, what is attracting attention in this flow from CO2 to fuel is methane. Methane can be synthesized by adding hydrogen to emitted CO2 and CO, and this reaction is also called methanation. This methane is attracting attention as an alternative to natural gas because existing infrastructure can be utilized. Also, in Europe and other places, there is a movement to synthesize methanol using renewable energy by capturing CO2 and use it as mixed gasoline instead of fossil fuels.

Trapping CO2 in Concrete!?

There is a method to fix CO2 as a metal carbonate by chemically reacting CO2 with metal oxides such as calcium, magnesium, and iron to form a carbonate. This is also called mineralization and is a phenomenon seen in nature. Corals and bivalves are organisms that create a variety of minerals while absorbing and fixing CO2 mainly using calcium carbonate. This principle is also artificially applied to concrete. Companies such as Kashima Construction Co., Ltd. and Denka Co., Ltd. have developed and commercialized concrete that hardens while absorbing CO2 exceeding the amount of CO2 emitted when manufacturing concrete.

Clothes from CO2!? HighChem is also participating in the development of paraxylene technology from CO2

　


Since 2020, HighChem has been working with major Japanese companies and universities, such as Toyama University and Nippon Steel Corporation, as a NEDO* project to develop technology to produce paraxylene using CO2 as a raw material. Paraxylene is a basic Chemicals that becomes purified terephthalic acid (PTA) when oxidized. HighChem is also working on developing CO2-derived ethylene glycol based on SEG® technology. By reacting these CO2-derived terephthalic acids with ethylene glycol, PET (polyethylene terephthalate), which can be used as a raw material for polyester fibers and PET bottles, can be obtained. Therefore, HighChem believes that by working on these technological developments, it can develop polyester fibers using CO2 as a raw material and lead to the development of technology to manufacture clothes from CO2.
(※) NEDO: New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, a national research and development agency of Japan