Japan supports third waste to ethanol project
A new joint venture between a unit of Kawasaki Heavy Industries and an agricultural public corporation led by the prefectural government of Akita in northern Japan is the country’s third waste to ethanol project.
The projects, making ethanol from farm waste with subsidies, will pay for building and running of plants totalling about €24.8 million over 5 years.
The ministry set aside 3.2 billion yen (€26 million) for the year to next March to support projects to run a small test plant with daily output of up to 1,000 litres at costs that could be low enough for commercial production.
The ministry will assume 50% of estimated costs to build a cellulosic ethanol plant and 100% of a plant's running costs during a research and development period.
For the next fiscal year, the ministry has requested a budget of 3.7 billion yen to keep supporting similar projects in the cellulosic ethanol field.
The construction cost of the plant in Akita, with projected annual ethanol output of up to 22.5 kilolitres, is estimated at 1.03 billion yen, and its running cost for the five-year project at 900 million yen, Japan’s agriculture ministry officials say.
In July, the ministry approved two smaller plants by two joint ventures, one in the northern island of Hokkaido by general contractor Taisei Corp and beer company Sapporo Holdings; and another one in Hyogo prefecture, western Japan, by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and a group led by the Hyogo prefectural government.
Several countries including Japan are working on enzymes and other processing technologies to unlock more energy from the waste products of farming, such as rice straw, and forestry.
The projects, making ethanol from farm waste with subsidies, will pay for building and running of plants totalling about €24.8 million over 5 years.
The ministry set aside 3.2 billion yen (€26 million) for the year to next March to support projects to run a small test plant with daily output of up to 1,000 litres at costs that could be low enough for commercial production.
The ministry will assume 50% of estimated costs to build a cellulosic ethanol plant and 100% of a plant's running costs during a research and development period.
For the next fiscal year, the ministry has requested a budget of 3.7 billion yen to keep supporting similar projects in the cellulosic ethanol field.
The construction cost of the plant in Akita, with projected annual ethanol output of up to 22.5 kilolitres, is estimated at 1.03 billion yen, and its running cost for the five-year project at 900 million yen, Japan’s agriculture ministry officials say.
In July, the ministry approved two smaller plants by two joint ventures, one in the northern island of Hokkaido by general contractor Taisei Corp and beer company Sapporo Holdings; and another one in Hyogo prefecture, western Japan, by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and a group led by the Hyogo prefectural government.
Several countries including Japan are working on enzymes and other processing technologies to unlock more energy from the waste products of farming, such as rice straw, and forestry.
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