Japanese chemical firm Zeon has established a new research facility to develop plant-based production processes for synthetic rubber raw materials at the Zeon Chemicals Yonezawa site.
This facility will accelerate the development of biotechnology to produce butadiene and isoprene directly, which are key components of synthetic rubber, from plant-derived materials.
The company intends to reduce CO2 emissions across the entire group by 42% by fiscal 2030 compared to fiscal 2020 levels.
By establishing this integrated research facility, which enables the simultaneous development of both chemical reaction and biofermentation processes, Zeon aims to promote monozukuri with a focus on the conversion of raw materials toward the realisation of a sustainable society.
This initiative is part of the development of manufacturing technology using new research facility for carbon recycling for commodity chemicals used in synthetic rubber, a project that is jointly carried out by Zeon and Yokohama Rubber Co.
It has been selected under the development of technology for producing raw materials for plastics using CO2 and other sources, one of the Green Innovation Fund Projects of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO).
Through R&D at this facility, Zeon aims to commercialise biotechnology for the direct production of butadiene and isoprene from plant-based materials by 2034.
This facility has been certified as eligible for support under the Yamagata Prefecture Business Location Promotion Subsidy Program and has received partial construction funding from the prefecture.
NEDO’s Green Innovation Fund Project is a program established by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to accelerate innovation through structural transformation of energy and industrial sectors and bold investment toward achieving the national goal of “reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050.”
The program provides a continuous ten-year support to companies to pursue this goal as a business commitment in the areas from R&D.
As part of a cooperative effort led by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), the National University Corporation Institute of Science, Tokyo (formerly the Tokyo Institute of Technology), and the national R&D agency RIKEN, Zeon and Yokohama Rubber are working on two project themes.