Mitsubishi Gas Chemical signs MOU with JFE Engineering on waste-to-methanol

Mitsubishi Gas Chemical and JFE Engineering have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly study and establish a waste-gasification methanol production technology, moving toward commercialization. JFE Engineering's C-PhoeniX Process converts waste, including municipal waste, into hydrogen and carbon monoxide syngas, which will be used to make methanol for chemicals such as plastics and synthetic fibers, or for fuel. The work is linked to an NEDO Green Innovation Fund project, with Mitsubishi Gas Chemical expected to be the contractor and a large-scale demonstration targeted for completion in fiscal 2030.

Key facts

Market context

Methanol is one of the world's largest bulk chemicals and serves as a building block for formaldehyde, acetic acid, MTBE and olefins, which in turn feed plastics, adhesives, synthetic fibers and coatings. It is also used directly as a fuel and fuel blending component. Demand therefore tracks construction, automotive, packaging and textile activity, along with energy policy. Conventional methanol is made mainly from natural gas or coal-derived syngas, so producers with access to alternative carbon-bearing feedstocks can diversify supply and reduce exposure to fossil feedstock price swings. Syngas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, is the intermediate used in these routes, and gasifying municipal or other waste to produce it is one way to recover carbon from material otherwise sent to incineration or landfill. Buyers in circular plastics and low-carbon fuel chains often look for such feedstocks, though commercial volumes depend on gasification performance, cost and offtake arrangements.

Source: official release on mgc.co.jp. Summary and context written by Market Krystal.