Binex Inc. (“Binex”; Head Office: Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Hiromichi Aoki) will complete construction of a large-scale biomass combustion and synthesis gas production plant in Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Prefecture in April 2022. By June the plant will begin concurrent operation with the existing biomethanol production plant after the former’s test runs and other preparations are concluded. These developments will establish a full-scale shipment system for biomethanol samples. The plant was operated by Chuo Kankyo (Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Prefecture) until 2011 before being transferred last year from the company to Binex, who refurbished and re-built it with state-of-the-art technology. Chuo Kankyo will provide assistance with future operations.
Previously, a small biomass combustion and biomethanol production plant located in Isahaya City, Nagasaki Prefecture (“Isahaya Plant”) was transferred to Binex from Biomass Energy Corporation, a company founded in May 2021 and one of Binex’s major shareholders. The biomethanol produced at this plant was provided to Honda Motor Co., Ltd. and was utilized in the 2021 F1 Championship as fuel for the Red Bull-Honda F1 racing cars.
Going forward, a biomass combustion and syngas production plant to be completed in Nagasaki City (“Nagasaki Plant”) will be capable of producing biomass syngas on a scale 10 times that of the Isahaya plant. If the full plant capacity is utilized for biomethanol, it will be possible to produce approximately 350 kiloliters per year. This plant will also make possible the provision of biomass syngas to produce SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel)※1 and ABF (Advanced Biofuels)※2, such as biodiesel and ethanol.
With the completion of the Nagasaki Plant, which is based on the technology and experience accumulated at the Isahaya Plant, Binex will establish a large-scale biomass syngas and biomethanol production system. Binex plans to supply biomethanol to oil companies, petrochemical companies, major automobile manufacturers, industrial gas companies, trading companies, and others, as well as partake in the joint development of SAF and ABF.
Commenting on the announcement, Hiromichi Aoki, Representative Director of Binex, stated the following:
“We are very pleased to announce the completion of the Nagasaki Plant, which combines the biomass combustion and biomass syngas production technologies developed over many years by Biomass Energy, one of our major shareholders, and will allow us to begin shipping biomethanol samples to the many companies that have been waiting to obtain them. While we have achieved production of biomethanol and biodiesel from the biomass syngas produced at the Isahaya Plant, we are also capable of synthesizing SAF and ABF, and are in discussions with many trading companies and energy companies in Japan and abroad. We expect that the operation of the Nagasaki Plant will greatly advance these efforts and, together with the development of sorghum breeding suitable for gasification※3 that we are developing together with the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Tokyo, will be another big step toward the realization of carbon negativity.”
Through these activities, Binex is truly committed to reducing the Earth’s carbon footprint.
Binex Inc.
Binex was established to earnestly address food, environmental, and energy issues and construct a value chain for biomethanol. Binex aims to breed and cultivate sorghum varieties that sequester large quantities of carbon dioxide during growth; supply sorghum grain as a foodstuff; produce and supply biomethanol from sorghum residue such as leaves and stalks; provide fuel cells that use biomass methanol as a hydrogen carrier; utilize biofuel in semiconductor manufacturing, fuels for internal combustion engines, and petrochemical raw materials; and develop additional applications, including chemical products that replace fossil fuels with biomass-derived materials.
※1 SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel):
A type of advanced aviation biofuel.
※2 ABF (Advanced Bio-Fuel):
Biofuels made from various types of non-edible, sustainable biomass.
※3 In October 2021, Binex signed an agreement with the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences of the University of Tokyo for joint research in Peru on sorghum as a biomass feedstock. Test cultivation has already commenced.