Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering, Ltd. (MHIENG) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Environmental & Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd. (MHIEC) – two group companies of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), both based in Yokohama – are poised to commence demonstration testing of equipment for separation, capture and effective utilization of CO2 emissions from a local waste-to-energy (WtE) plant. The test program will be conducted together with the city of Yokohama and Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. The four parties recently signed a memorandum of collaboration, their collective goal set on realizing a carbon neutral society.
The demonstration testing, a joint undertaking by the private and public sectors, will integrate MHIEC and Yokohama’s knowhow in the operation of WtE plants, MHIENG’s high-performance carbon capture technology, and Tokyo Gas’s expertise in hydrogen and carbon usage. The aim is to separate, capture and effectively recycle the mainly biomass-derived CO2 in the flue gas generated during the incineration of household waste.
Under this project, MHI Group’s carbon capture technology will be applied at Yokohama’s Tsurumi Waste-to-Energy Plant, which was originally built by MHIEC. MHIENG will design and manufacture the compact CO2 capture system based on its proprietary process technologies, and MHIEC will take charge of the equipment’s installation. The high-purity CO2 separated and captured from the flue gas will be transported to Tokyo Gas’s Yokohama Techno Station, located in Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, where it will be used for a demonstration test of methanation that synthesizes methane gas through chemical reaction with hydrogen, as well as for research on direct use to industrial gas.
The project will be MHIENG’s first application of its CO2 capture technology in a WtE plant. The equipment to be designed and manufactured is a compact CO2 capture system with a capture capacity of 0.3 tonnes per day (tpd), and it is applicable to various industrial facilities. It will further strengthen MHIENG’s product lineup as the company pursues increased applications of its carbon capture technologies to diverse emission sources and scales. For MHI Group, the project is significant in terms of providing a carbon negative solution responding to Japan’s decarbonization needs going forward: implementation of integrated carbon separation and capture from social infrastructure.
MHI Group today is undertaking strategic strengthening of its energy transition business, and the development of a CO2 ecosystem is central to those initiatives. Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is garnering attention as an effective means for realizing a carbon neutral society. With the demonstration testing to be performed in Yokohama, MHIENG and MHIEC, key players in MHI’s energy transition program, will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale, part of MHI’s ongoing commitment to help protect the global environment.
About MHIENG’s CO2 capture technologies
MHIENG (originally MHI) has been developing the KM CDR Process™ and the Advanced KM CDR Process™ in collaboration with Kansai Electric Power since 1990. Today the Company stands as a global leader in this field. As of February 2022, the KM CDR Process™ has been adopted at 13 plants worldwide, and three more are currently under construction.
About MHI Group
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group is one of the world’s leading industrial groups, spanning energy, logistics & infrastructure, industrial machinery, aerospace and defense. MHI Group combines cutting-edge technology with deep experience to deliver innovative, integrated solutions that help to realize a carbon neutral world, improve the quality of life and ensure a safer world.