Companies in Japan are pioneering new carbon capture technologies aimed at dramatically lowering the cost of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial emissions, Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday.
Nitto Denko (TYO: 6988), a leading materials group, plans to invest 2 billion yen ($13.6 million) in producing separation membranes designed to extract CO2 from emissions before they are released into the atmosphere.
Mass production is expected to begin next year. These membranes can capture about 90% of CO2 emissions, enabling a small to medium-sized factory to recover approximately 3,000 tons of CO2 annually.
The membranes will be assembled into tubular modules at a facility in Japan’s Shiga prefecture, scalable to fit various facility sizes and as compact as 70 square meters (753 sq ft).
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JFE Engineering is also set to launch a carbon-capture system this fiscal year, combining separation membranes with zeolite, a material known for absorbing CO2.
This system aims to capture 99.5% of CO2 emissions, with the membranes capturing about 50% and the zeolite absorbing the remainder.
Toray Industries (TYO: 3402), another key player, is developing a separation membrane using carbon fibers, which will start targeting industrial emissions as early as fiscal 2030.
The industrial sector contributes roughly 40% of Japan’s CO2 emissions, and the country has set a target to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
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The captured CO2 can be stored underground, recycled for industrial use, or incorporated into concrete, with separation membranes being more energy-efficient than traditional methods.
Japan is a global leader in separation membrane technology, with Toray and Nitto Denko holding the most patent applications in the world as of March 2024, according to Tokyo-based tracker Patent Result.
The cost of capturing one ton of CO2 with conventional methods is around 4,200 yen ($28.6), but this is expected to drop to around 1,000 yen ($6.8) using these new membranes.
According to Tokyo-based research firm Fuji Keizai, the global carbon capture market is projected to reach 3.5 trillion yen ($23.8 billion) by 2050, a sixfold increase from 2022.
