Ube Industries : to Construct Demonstration Facility for Carbonized Fuel from Woody Biomass
April 19, 2018 at 12:12 am EDT
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April 19, 2018
TOKYO, April 19, 2018 - Ube Industries, Ltd. today announced that it has developed torrefied pellets carbonized from woody biomass, for use in coal-fired power plants as a co-firing ratio of 10% or more (calorie basis). The torrefied pellets will facilitate the use of woody biomass as a renewable energy source to address global warming. Ube Industries has also decided to construct a demonstration facility for manufacturing torrefied pellets in Ube City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, with an annual production capacity of 60,000 tonnes. The facility will enable Ube Industries to conduct demonstration tests with the goal of marketing the pellets to conventional coal-fired power plants.
The torrefied pellets are realizing a woody biomass fuel with greatly enhanced hydrophobic properties and grindability with coal *1. Whereas coal-fired power plants require specialized handling equipment to co-fire conventional woody biomass with coal, torrefied pellets can be handled like coal and co-fired without the need for specialized handling equipment.
Ube Industries' goal in constructing the demonstration facilities is to commercialize torrefied pellets to reduce the burden on the environment and offer customers (power plants) a solution for co-storage, transport, pulverizing and co-firing of torrefied pellets with coal without the need for additional investment. The torrefied pellets will be tested at Ube Industries' Okinoyama Coal Center and 216 MW coal-fired power plant.
Ube Industries will import at the Port of Ube woody biomass to be used as raw material at the demonstration facility, under the long-term contract with Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. of Canada.
Ube Industries has outlined a management strategy to address and be part of the solution for resource, energy, and global environmental issues under its mid-term management plan. In accordance with this strategy, the Company will continue working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout supply chains by reducing energy consumption and increasing recycling, while further developing and extending technologies and products that help reduce environmental impact.
*1 Torrefied pellets are solid fuels obtained by roasting woody biomass under low-oxygen concentration and relatively low-temperature.
Data for Demonstration Facility for Torrefied Pellets
Planned location
Factory site of Ube Industries in Ube City, Yamaguchi Prefecture
Annual production capacity
60,000 tonnes
Start of construction
April 2018
Scheduled start of production
October 2019
Torrefied pellets
Okinoyama Coal Center and 216 MW coal-fired power plant
Contact
For inquiries please contact
Ube Industries, Ltd.
Investor Relations & Public Relations Department
Corporate Planning & Administration Office
Seavans North Building, 1-2-1 Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-8449
Phone : +81-3-5419-6110
Contact us by Internet.
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Ube Industries Ltd. published this content on 19 April 2018 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 19 April 2018 04:11:09 UTC
UBE Corporation (formerly Ube Industries, Ltd.) specializes in manufacturing and marketing of chemical products. The group is also developing a production of building materials and industrial machines activity. Net sales break down by activity as follows:
- sale of basic chemical products (53%): polymers, polyamide resins, caprolactams, industrial chemical products, synthetic rubbers, elastomers, polyethylene films, etc.;
- manufacturing of molding machines and industrial equipments (21.7%);
- sale of specialty chemicals (10.8%): polyimides, membrane separation products, ceramics, boron trichloride, Tyranno type fibers, materials for lithium-ion batteries, phenol-formaldehyde resins, active pharmaceutical ingredients, etc., primarily for the electric vehicle, electronic components, semiconductor, biofuels and pharmaceutical industries;
- other (14.5%).
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: Japan (63.4%), Asia (21.1%), Europe (8.7%) and other (6.8%).
UBE CORPORATION 
