TOKYO – Ten Japanese companies plan to jointly develop a carbon-neutral industrial complex east of Tokyo, presenting a potential new green model for other heavy and chemical industrial concentrations in Japan and worldwide.
The Carbon Neutral Goi and Soga Complex will take shape in the Goi district of Ichihara City and the Soga District of Chiba City along the shore of Tokyo Bay in Chiba Prefecture. Chiba is home to Japan’s largest concentration of industrial materials and energy companies.
The project, which is led by engineering company Yokogawa Electric, was commissioned by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and is part of a larger NEDO effort to develop carbon recycling and next-generation thermal power generation technology.
It is also consistent with the “Green Growth Strategy Through Achieving Carbon Neutrality in 2050” promoted by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).
Since February 2021, Yokogawa has been studying the feasibility of introducing carbon-neutral technologies at the Goi industrial complex. After concluding that inter-industry collaboration would be more effective than companies working independently, nine other firms with operations there and in Soga agreed to participate in the project.
The signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was announced on December 8.
Yokogawa and the other nine companies representing energy, chemical, steel, industrial materials and other industries aim to commercialize the necessary technologies by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Yokogawa will design, produce, install and manage the control systems.
The three major components of the project are:
- Introduction of an inter-industry energy management system to minimize CO2 emissions
- The recovery and effective utilization of CO2 through inter-industry collaboration
- Reduction in CO2 emissions through inter-industry collaboration in the utilization of hydrogen and other gas by-products from existing processes
The Carbon Neutral Goi and Soga Complex will be part of the larger Keiyo Rinkai Industrial Zone. Other large industrial areas in Japan include the Keihin Industrial Zone, which stretches from Tokyo through Kawasaki to Yokohama; the Hanshin Industrial Zone, which runs from Osaka to Kobe along Osaka Bay; and the Kita Kyushu Industrial Zone located at the north end of the island of Kyushu. There are decarbonization projects underway in all of them.
Yokogawa is also working on projects involving decarbonization with the Nippon Foundation and the Houston-based DeepStar offshore oil and gas technology development consortium, and as the main automation contractor for the Holland Hydrogen I facility at the port of Rotterdam.
The companies involved in the Goi and Soga carbon-neutral project are:
Cosmo Oil Co, Ltd
Cosmo Oil is part of the Cosmo Energy Group, which is involved in oil exploration, production, refining and distribution, petrochemicals and wind power generation.
Denka Company Ltd
Denka produces inorganic and organic chemicals, materials for the electronics industry and pharmaceuticals.
Iwatani Corporation
Iwatani is Japan’s leading supplier of LPG, hydrogen and helium, a manufacturer of industrial materials and machinery, and a supplier of food and agricultural products and services. Its Advanced Hydrogen Technology Center works on hydrogen fuel stations, green hydrogen manufacturing, and technologies to synthesize hydrocarbons from hydrogen and carbon.
JFE Steel Corporation
JFE Steel is a world-leading integrated steel producer. In 2021, it announced an Environmental Vision targeting carbon neutrality by 2050.
JNC Corporation
JNC Corp is a diversified chemical company that serves industrial and consumer product manufacturers, makes electronic materials and supplies hydroelectric power to electrochemical and fertilizer producers.
KH Neochem Co, Ltd
KH Neochem manufactures a variety of chemical products including raw materials for plasticizers and resins, solvents, refrigerants, lubricants, paints, and base materials for cosmetics and the electronics industry.
Maruzen Petrochemical Co, Ltd
Maruzen Petrochemical produces ethylene, propylene and other petrochemical products used to make plastics, synthetic fiber, synthetic rubber and coatings, plus industrial and specialty chemicals.
UBE Elastomer Co Ltd
UBE Elastomer produces synthetic rubber and its raw materials.
Ube Material Industries, Ltd
Ube Material Industries, a member of the Mitsubishi UBE Cement Group, manufactures quicklime (calcium oxide) and slaked lime (calcium hydroxide). Using quicklime as a raw material, it extracts magnesium from seawater, from which it produces magnesia-related products including magnesium hydroxide and magnesia clinker, a refractory raw material.
Yokogawa Electric Corporation
Yokogawa designs, supplies and manages control systems and related instrumentation for the oil and gas, petrochemical, hydrogen production and other industries. Its Collaborative Information Server, which gathers, integrates and analyzes data, is capable of coordinating complex industrial operations such as the Carbon Neutral Goi and Soga Complex.
This project takes carbon neutrality from the realm of political debate, environmental lobbying and policy papers to the practical restructuring of basic industries essential to the economy.
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