Mitsui Chemicals, Maruzen Petrochemical, Toyo Engineering Corporation and Sojitz Machinery Corporation announced that a joint pilot project to be demonstrated by the four companies is to be funded by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

The project partners had applied to the Green Innovation Fund for projects aimed at the development of technology for producing raw materials for plastics using CO2 and other sources, focusing in particular on the development of advanced technologies for naphtha crackers.

The goal of the pilot project is to switch naphtha crackers from running on conventional methane-based fuel to one in which ammonia is the principal component, thereby reducing the CO2 emissions generated by combustion virtually to zero. The trial is expected to run for 10 years, from FY2021 until FY2030 in order to be implemented in society after feasibility has been demonstrated in an entirely ammonia-fired commercial cracker in the project’s final year.

Through the construction and operation of the plant along with the manufacture of the equipment, these four companies will leverage their knowledge and technical capabilities in the field of ethylene plants as they aim now to achieve the social implementation of entirely ammonia-fired crackers, thereby contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions throughout the petrochemical industry.