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Nitto Denko's Joint Bioethanol R&D with Kobe University Selected by NEDO

2009.09.03

A joint R&D of elemental technology relating to bioethanol production being pursued by Japan's leading diversified materials company Nitto Denko Corporation (Nitto Denko) and Kobe University, a major Japanese public university, has been selected by NEDO as a theme of joint R&D project promoted by it, Nitto Denko announced today.

NEDO, or New Energy and Industrial Technology Organization -- the country's largest R&D management organization -- is a semi-governmental administrative agency with the mission of enhancing the competitiveness of Japan's industrial technology by identifying core technology seeds of the future and by promoting technology R&D at various stages of development.

Entitled "R&D into Polymer Membrane-integrated System for Distillation and Dehydration of Cellulosic Bioethanol", the R&D which Nitto Denko is conducting jointly with the university's research group led by Prof. Akihiko Kondoh, has been selected as one of the four themes in NEDO's Fiscal Year 2009 "Development of Elemental Technology for Biomass Energy Conversion" project lasting until FY2011. Prof. Kondoh is one of the world's leading researchers in the field of Biological Functions and Processes.

In the background of the selection made this time is NEDO's aim, as a part of the organization's endeavor to prevent global warming and realize a recycling-oriented society, to achieve an epoch-making improvement in the production cost of ethanol and biofuels through the development of relevant and peripheral elementary technologies, with their practical application and popularization targeted for ca. 2015.

In the joint R&D with NEDO, Nitto Denko will fully leverage its polymer membranes expertise nurtured through its past achievements in domains such as seawater desalination and gas/vapor separation, in order to reduce the production cost of bioethanol as well as the energy consumption for its distillation/dehydration. For that purpose, the company will conduct R&D on low-cost polymer membrane modules for bioethanol distillation and dehydration, as well as an energy-saving distillation/dehydration system using the modules so developed.

Prof. Kondoh's team at Kobe University will fully take advantage of its expertise on cellulosic biomass fermentation, to conduct research into preventing membrane fouling by impurities in biomass-derived ethanol, and together with Nitto Denko, aim to develop the technology for stable operation of the distillation/dehydration system.

R&D Theme

R&D on New Energy Technology / Development of Technology for High-efficiency Conversion of Biomass to Energy (Elemental Conversion Technology)

Term of Joint R&D with NEDO

FY'09 - FY'11

NEDO's Related Information (in Japanese)

https://app3.infoc.nedo.go.jp/informations/koubo/koubo/FF/nedokouboplace.2008-03-13.7806992650/nedokoubo.2009-08-25.4672343258/

R&D Background

Cellolosic bioethanol production process consists of stages such as pre-treatment, saccharification, fermentation and distillation/dehydration. Of the entire process, the distillation/dehydration stage is said to account for approximately 50% in terms of energy consumption. Therefore, reducing the energy consumption of this stage is a hurdle that must be overcome if bioethanol were to be popularized.

Conventionally, azeotropic distillation and pressure swing adsorption have been used as the methods for bioethanol dehydration. But these methods require large amounts of thermal energy for regenerating the azeotropes and the adsorption agents. On the other hand, a separation method (vapor permeation) using ceramic membranes has been studied in Japan from the viewpoint of energy conservation, and partially brought into demonstration/ practical application stages. However, the method is yet to be popularized due to the cost of high membrane.

The Nitto Denko/Kobe Univ. R&D project aims to reduce cost as well as energy requirement in the production of bioethanol derived from cellulosic resources not competing with food application.

Upholding "Green, Clean and Fine" as the key concept underlying the business domains for the next wave of growth, Nitto Denko is actively striving to create new products and services through various R&D activities including the R&D here, in the domains of "Clean" (New Energy and Energy Conservation) in addition to "Green" (Environment) and "Fine" (Life Sciences).

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