Japanese Companies Establish Low-Cost Biofuel Technologies from Rice Straw

The Japanese company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., announced on April 11, 2011, that they have established technologies to refine bioethanol for auto fuel that conforms to the standards of the Japanese Automotive Standards Organization (JASO) from soft cellulose biomass, such as rice straw. The project has been undertaken in cooperation with Hakutsuru Sake Brewing Co. and Kansai Chemical Engineering Co.

In the saccharification process that Mitsubishi developed, a hydrothermal treatment system operating on a continuous basis stably produces sugar components, which are then used as the raw materials of ethanol, utilizing only hot water and optimal doses of enzymes. Hakutsuru Sake has established technologies to convert rice straw- or barley straw-derived sugars into ethanol by yeast fermentation, while Kansai Chemical has technologies to verify that the refined ethanol conforms with JASO standards; a new type of distillation column that enables longer continuous operation and a liquid-phase absorption-type dehydration unit that enables low-energy processing.

The operating costs from collection and transportation of feedstocks to ethanol production are now below the targeted 90 yen (U.S.$1.1) per liter. Thus, these technologies are drawing high expectations as a means to provide both an alternative of fossil fuels, and to resolve competition between food and energy, which has triggered increases in the price of grain. Hereafter, Mitsubishi will continue to pursue early commercialization of bio-refinery technologies, which make it possible to produce chemical products from soft cellulose biomass, including compatibility studies on feedstocks other than straw and development of non-ethanol products.

Pilot Plant Starts Producing Bioethanol from Soft Cellulose Biomass (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/029805.html

Posted: 2011/08/12 06:00:15 AM