——What is the SEG® technology, which is at the core of HighChem’s C1 Chemical Business?

Mr. Konishi: SEG® technology is a process that uses synthetic gas (carbon monoxide and hydrogen) as raw materials to produce ethylene glycol, a type of polyester manufacturing material. The raw materials can be diverse, including coal, natural gas, industrial exhaust gas, and biomass. Therefore, it’s a technology that’s garnering attention as an eco-friendly solution with potential CO2 reduction effects, as it can effectively utilize various waste gases and biomass, convert CO2 to CO, and even use CO2 as a raw material.

——HighChem has been advancing the licensing business of this SEG® technology to Chinese companies. What kind of business is this?

Mr. Konishi:  HighChem, using UBE Corporation’s (hereafter UBE) technology, has established a technology to produce a general-purpose chemical, ethylene glycol, based on UBE’s fine chemical technology, by commercializing and scaling up UBE’s ethylene glycol manufacturing technology, which was at the lab level at the time, from the production of DMO from coal gasification.
We have launched this as the SEG® license business. It’s truly a 180-degree shift in thinking, from “making general-purpose chemicals from fine chemicals.” In commercializing and scaling up the technology, we succeeded in commercialization through the construction of a pilot plant and others, along with a partner in China who could share the risk. From there, we expanded the license on a large scale in China, a huge market, while scaling up as needed. And we accomplished all these in just a span of 10 years.

Ethylene glycol is a chemical with a huge market in China, even among general-purpose chemicals. However, we have grown to occupy more than 40% of the market share with the SEG® method. This is equivalent to 23 license contracts and a total production capacity of about 10 million tons. Even if you combine the whole of Japan, it’s only about 1 million tons, so HighChem 's licensees alone are 10 times the size of Japan. Considering that new technologies are hard to come by in the world of general-purpose chemicals, I think it’s fair to say that 10 million tons is an exceptional hit.

——The main raw material for the production of ethylene glycol using SEG® technology is coal, isn’t it?

Mr. Konishi: If we shift our focus to the raw materials, the traditional method of producing ethylene glycol mainly relied on petroleum, which China had to import. The fact that we could utilize coal, a resource that is abundantly available in China, and link it to domestic production has significant meaning from the perspective within China. In addition, we were able to add value by transforming coal, which was previously used for power generation, into chemical products. This was highly appreciated. Moreover, instead of burning carbon to produce CO2, we were able to ride the current trend of decarbonization by fixing carbon into substances. Also, by gasifying coal, carbon monoxide and hydrogen are produced, so we were able to build a solid relationship with Chinese stakeholders in the context of “hydrogen,” which could be a key to future decarbonization.

——Please tell us about the in-house production of “catalysts,” another core value of the SEG® business.

Mr. Konishi:  One thing we must not forget when talking about the SEG® business is the in-house production of “catalysts.” We established our own catalyst factory in Nantong and set up research and development bases in Kashiwa, Japan, and Nantong. This allowed us to build a system to pursue not only “qualitative development” but also “quantitative development.”  Japan has catalyst technology, but lacks mass production systems. Therefore, there is a history of not being able to gain international competitiveness. As a Japanese company, we were able to establish a large-scale production system in China and build a system that can ensure competitiveness, including scale, for the catalysts we actually developed. This can be said to be a major core value in the SEG® business. And this catalyst technology can now be expanded horizontally to various catalysts and also leads to the OEM manufacturing business of catalysts.

——You have indicated a direction to expand the C1 business as an initiative towards a low-carbon society. Please tell us about the future prospects of HighChem’s C1 business.

Mr. Konishi:  The licensing business is finally reaching its climax, and HighChem has participated in the investment of the 1.8 million ton SEG® project of Shaanxi Coal Industry, which has firmly held its rights in the huge coal production area, as the culmination of what we have done so far.

これは今までのように「面白い技術を売る」というだけのステージから「面白い技術を武器に、優良事業権益を得て、自らやりたいことをやる」というステージになったという点で収益力のみならず影響力が全然違う。新たな技術開発や事業展開も含めてこれまで届かなかったところに主体的に関与していけるようになったのです。

自然界にあるもの（石炭・石油・天然ガス等）って例えば石油でも主にC4からC18ぐらいの炭素の塊ですが、C1ケミカルとはこれらをバラしながら、C1まで分解してそこから好きなものを合成していくという技術です。そしてこの中にC1のCO2も含まれているということが今注目を集めている所以です。今、世界中でCO2からいろんなものを作りたいという人が出てきてそこに注目が集まってきています。

我々が参画するCO2からパラキシレンを製造する技術開発もまさにNEDOを通じて国からの受託事業としてパートナー共々日夜開発に励んでおります。世の中はカーボンリサイクルの流れに確実に向かっていて、まだまだどこも様々なハードルを抱えています。そんな中で巨大中国市場を利してSEG®ビジネスを大規模で展開してきたという強みや触媒技術において社会や地球に対し大きく貢献できるポテンシャルを有しているといえるでしょう。