6 July 2018
ABOUT CELLOLUSIC BIOMASS TECHNOLOGY
Company profile
Name : Cellulosic Biomass Technology Co., Ltd. (CBT)
Location :
Headquarters: Bangkok, Thailand;
Business Office: Udon Thani Province, Thailand
Established : January 2017
Capital : 680 million baht
Shareholders : Toray Group 456 million baht (67% stake)
Mitsui Sugar 224 million baht (33% stake)
Business : Technological demonstration of
cellulosic sugar production process using membranes
DETAILS
Toray Industries, Inc. announced today that it jointly with
Mitsui Sugar Co., Ltd. and Mitsui&Co., Ltd.
completed the construction of a demonstration plant
for manufacturing cellulosic sugar1),
a raw material used or producing various biochemical products,
from the sugar cane bagasse2) generated at sugar mills.
The demonstration plant was constructed at
Cellulosic Biomass Technology Co., Ltd.
(headquarters: Bangkok, Thailand;
hereinafter referred to as "CBT")
in Udon Thani province,
established jointly with Mitsui Sugar in January 2017.
The grand opening ceremony was held jointly
by the three companies and was attended by about 60 guests
including a minister of the Embassy of Japan in Thailand.
This project is part of the Demonstration Project
for an Energy-Saving Cellulosic Sugar Production System
using Bagasse
under the International Energy Conservation Technology
and System Demonstration Project promoted by
the New Energy and Industrial
Technology Development Organization (NEDO)
and is the research and technological development
of membrane bioprocesses
that combines Toray's
water treatment membrane and biotechnologies.
The completed plant
Membrane bioprocess is a technology
that would enable the reduction of energy
for separation and refinement
by using membranes in the saccharification and fermentation
and to improve conversion efficiency of non-edible biomass.
It will contribute to make a supply chain
for various biochemicals from non-edible biomass.
The demonstration plant
will use the residual bagasse
as an ingredient and efficiently co-produce
cellulosic sugar,
which is a fermenting raw material for
bioethanol, lactic acids and succinic acid,
and high value added products such as
polyphenol and oligosaccharide (diagram).
The plant is expected to start operations in late July 2018.
By applying the membrane separation technology from Japan,
the plant aims to
reduce energy consumption more than 50%
compared with the conventional manufacturing system,
which concentrates sugar solution by evaporating water.
Going forward, Toray will continue running the demonstration plant
till fiscal year 2022 (as per plan)
to assess and verify the impact on
energy savings, product performance,
economic viability of the system, etc.
Also, Toray will hold educational seminars and PR activities
regarding energy-saving useful material production technologies
employing polymer membrane technology
to disseminate the system to Thailand
as well as to the other ASEAN countries.
Toray places environment as the linchpin of its business strategy
so as to contribute to
the realization of a sustainable low-carbon society,
and under this management policy,
the company has established itself as
a pioneering comprehensive chemical manufacturer in Japan
to promote LCM3 environment management based
on the LCA concept.
As part of this endeavor, Toray will actively pursue open innovation
(collaboration and fusion) of membrane-based bioprocessing
between different industries and drive forward
the development of supply chain and provisioning of solutions.
[Explanation of terms]
1) Cellulosic sugar:
Sugar solution, with glucose as its main component,
obtained by hydrolyzing cellulose in inedible biomass
2) Bagasse:
The solid matter that remains
after extraction of juice from sugarcane.
Bagasse is burnt in the boiler of the sugar plant
and recycled as electrical energy.
The remaining bagasse left unused is defined as surplus bagasse.
3) LCM environment management based on LCA concept :
Life Cycle Management, or LCM is a sustainable initiative
aimed at improving a business’s economic and social values,
while reducing the environmental burden,
by viewing a product or service
from the perspective of its entire life cycle
(Life Cycle Assessment, or LCA)
in various industrial and corporate activities.
Source : Toray Industries, Inc.
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