Mitsui Chemicals’s bio-PP in government project

Japanese chemical firm Mitsui Chemicals is collaborating with Kaisei Inc. to commercialise its bio-polypropylene (bio-PP), with Japan’s Ministry of the Environment adopting Mitsui’s’ bio-PP pilot project to build a system to recycle plastic and other resources in support of a carbon-free society. This is in line with Japan’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Mitsui Chemicals’s bio-PP in government project

With this, Mitsui says it is conducting the world’s first bio-PP industrialisation demonstration test, and plans to conduct multifaceted evaluations of technologies, quality, economic efficiency, and environmental impact such as GHG reduction. Solving these issues, Mitsui will consider commercialisation of bio-PP with production to start in 2024.

Though PP accounts for more than 20% of the plastic produced in Japan, due to technical difficulties, production of polypropylene from biomass has not been established at the industrial level, says Mitsui.

The new production method being attempted for commercialisation sees various biomass mainly non-edible plants are fermented to produce isopropanol (IPA), which is then dehydrated to obtain propylene in a first-of-its-kind IPA method. Compared to other biomass production approaches studied by other companies thus far, this one could prove to be a more cost-effective way to manufacture bio-PP, claims Mitsui.

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Kaisei Inc. will cultivate biomass raw materials used by Mitsui, collect wastes generated from biomass raw materials, and supply electricity to manufacturing facilities and manufactures fertilizers through its effective use.