Chiyoda Corporation, the University of Toyama and HighChem, have announced the first successful production and purification of p-Xylene from CO2.

Chiyoda, the University of Toyama, HighChem, Nippon Steel Engineering Co., Ltd., Nippon Steel Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation have been collaborating on producing p-Xylene from CO2 following selection for the NEDO*2 project, ‘Development of Technologies for Carbon Recycling and Next- Generation Thermal Power Generation’, including reduction of CO2 emissions and utilizing CO2 for chemical materials.

Since March 2022, Chiyoda’s pilot plant in Koyasu Research Park as used HighChem’s industrial catalyst based on achievements of research by the University of Toyama to produce p-Xylene compounds utilizing CO2 as feedstock, and purified p-Xylene  in external facilities using conventional methods. This achievement accelerates the commercialization of the technology.

Reducing CO2 emitted from factories, power plants etc using technological options, including carbon recycling technologies, is essential to combat climate change. The ‘Roadmap for Carbon Recycling Technologies’ formulated by METI*3 in June 2019 (revised in July 2021), establishes guidelines for utilizing carbon recycling technologies to separate and collect CO2 as a resource, and reuse it in the form of diverse carbon compounds for chemical materials and fuels.

NEDO therefore supports an advanced technology development project to produce industrial p-Xylene from CO2 to substitute existing fossil fuel-derived chemicals.

p-Xylene produced from CO2, as with conventional p-Xylene, is applicable to many types of resins and relevant chemicals via Purified Terephthalic Acid 4 (PTA). However, resins and chemicals produced from CO2 benefit the environment by enabling carbon recycling and reducing CO2 emissions.

Commercializing with the Mass Balance Approach5 (as one potential procedure) enables p-Xylene produced from CO2 to be incorporated into the conventional p-Xylene supply chain, delivering the advantages of CO2 emission reduction to the market.