Japanese companies team together to provide membranes for ethanol industry

Japanese companies Mitsui Zosen Machinery & Service (MZM) and Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (MCC) have formed a partnership to produce and sell zeolite membranes, which are used in bioethanol production.

Under the agreement MCC will purchase MZM’s entire output of zeolite membranes and hold the sole sales rights in the US and other global markets, SeeNews reports.

The companies will also offer ethanol producers a dehydration system that combines MZM's A-type zeolite membranes and MCC's CHA-type zeolite membranes.

The duo says the new system will allow ethanol makers to reduce energy costs and to increase production by up to 15% compared to the process currently used in many ethanol plants.       

The firms see strong market fundamentals for the tie-up as they say bioethanol is now widely used as fuel, especially in the US and Brazil.

They note that the US currently has more than 210 bioethanol plants in operation and many will need zeolite bed refurbishment in the next several years.

In addition, regulators' push towards more energy efficient production creates the need for energy efficient technologies such as the partners' new system.