Tokai Carbon : Partnership agreement on practical application of CCUS(340KB)

April 20, 2023

SEKISUI CHEMICAL CO., LTD.

TOKAI CARBON CO., LTD.

Partnership agreement on practical application of CCUS

SEKISUI CHEMICAL CO., LTD. (President and Representative Director: Keita Kato; "SEKISUI CHEMICAL") and TOKAI CARBON CO., LTD. (President and Chief Executive Officer: Hajime Nagasaka; "TOKAI CARBON") have entered into a partnership for a practical application of the technology for manufacturing various carbon materials and products (Carbon Capture and Utilization technology, "CCU") and technology for capturing and storing carbon dioxide (CO2) as solid carbon (Carbon Capture and Storage technology, "CCS") using carbon monoxide (CO) produced by technology that efficiently convert CO2 into CO ("chemical looping reaction technology") on April 18.

The realization of this scheme provides a new method of CCS, reduce dependence on fossil resources and contribute to the de-carbonization in producing various carbon products.

1． Background

As climate change issues become more serious, there is a worldwide need to drastically reduce CO2, a greenhouse gas. In this context, CCU, which converts CO2 into fuels and chemical products, and CCS, which captures and stores CO2, are gathering attention as technologies that can reduce CO2 emissions.

Carbon products are materials that enrich daily life, used in a variety of applications such as automobiles, construction, machinery, and electronic components. However, most of the raw materials in carbon products are fossil-derived substances, and large amounts of CO2 are emitted during the manufacturing process, making greening a major issue. There are already technologies that directly convert CO2 into carbon, but their conversion efficiency is low, and thus further technological development is required to achieve CCU.

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In addition, current CCS methods generally store CO2 directly in the ground or on the seafloor, but this storage method requires pressure, which limits the location of storage facilities. In light of the growing demand for CCS going forward, it is desirable to develop a storage method such as solid carbon storage that is not constrained by location or reliant on pressure.

SEKISUI CHEMICAL is currently developing an innovative chemical looping reaction technology that converts CO2 to CO at a high yield 90% using a proprietary catalyst and reaction process. TOKAI CARBON is developing products using raw materials in various forms (solid, liquid, gaseous) considering the suitable compositions and manufacturing methods for each forms. The manufacturing and evaluation technologies backed by more than 100 years endeavor are supporting its development. We believe the innovative CCUS process would be achieved by gathering the technologies owned by both companies.

2. Target of this partnership

This partnership aims to achieve CCU technology, which converts CO2 in exhaust gas derived from the carbon manufacturing process to CO, using chemical looping reaction technology, and then further converts CO to carbon for manufacturing carbon products. CO2 will be stored as a solid carbon and not directly in this CCS technology. These methods result in a lower amount of CO2 generated from the carbon manufacturing process, as well as a higher conversion efficiency by the two-step conversion method (CO2→CO→Carbon) compare to the direct conversion method (CO2→Carbon) and broaden the potential storage location by eliminating the need to use pressure to stock chemical materials and energies.

3. Outlook

If superior environmental impact and economic feasibility are recognized through this

partnership, the companies will proceed with a pilot project and aim to commercialize the technology by 2030. This partnership will contribute to global decarbonization and circular economy, by reducing CO2 during manufacturing carbon and its products, enriching daily lives with carbon through CCU and reducing CO2 emission through CCS which not limits the CO2 source to carbon manufacturing but from much wider CO2 sources.

SEKISUI CHEMICAL Group set its vision statement as "Innovation for the Earth" in Vision 2030, its long-term vision. We announced to support the basis of LIFE and will continue to create "peace of mind for the future" in order to realize a sustainable society. We are working on new technologies and businesses that contribute to decarbonization.

Going forward, SEKISUI CHEMICAL Group aims to realize both a sustainable society and sustainable growth of the Group itself, contribute to further solving social issues, and promote initiatives to remain as a company that continues to be trusted by all of our stakeholders.

https://www.sekisuichemical.com/

TOKAI CARBON Group's long-term vision for 2030 is to "contribute to a sustainable society through advanced materials and solutions" and working on various measures aiming carbon net-zero by 2050. The achievement of technologies such as CCU and CCS is a long-cherished

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dream of the company, which has been engaged in the carbon industry for more than 100 years. While there are limits to what TOKAI CARBON can do on its own, the company will work to strengthen ties of reliability with its stakeholders to enable meaningful co-creation.

https://www.tokaicarbon.co.jp/en/

SEKISUI CHEMICAL CO.,LTD. Corporate Communication Department

Email:kouhou@sekisui.com

TOKAI CARBON CO.,LTD. Business Incubation Department

Email:Business_Incubation@tokaicarbon.co.jp

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