Mitsubishi Heavy achieves target outcomes at bioethanol pilot plant

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has achieved the target performance of over 99.5% ethanol purity at a pilot plant for membrane dehydration systems installed at MHI's Nagasaki Carbon Neutral Park within the Nagasaki District Research & Innovation Centre.
Bioethanol is gaining attention as a clean fuel alternative to gasoline and as a raw material for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
However, in order to be used as fuel, the removal of moisture contained in bioethanol during the final stage of manufacturing (dehydration) is essential and the dehydration process consumes a significant amount of energy.
MMDS aims to optimise the process by replacing the conventional method with a molecular sieve separation method, thereby achieving high-efficiency manufacturing while significantly reducing energy consumption by over 30%, leading to a substantial reduction in operational costs and stable production.
Moving forward, based on the results of various element tests conducted at the pilot plant, MHI plans to accelerate development toward the construction of a demonstration plant for an early launch.