Asahi Kasei and Mitsui establish supply and procurement system for bio-methanol
June 8, 2023
Asahi Kasei Corp.
Mitsui & Co., Ltd.
Asahi Kasei Corp. (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Koshiro Kudo; hereinafter referred to as "Asahi Kasei") and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Kenichi Hori; hereinafter referred to as "Mitsui") will establish a supply and procurement system for bio-methanol produced in the United States. Through this system, Asahi Kasei plans to use the bio-methanol procured from Mitsui to produce engineering plastics in Japan with a lower carbon footprint than the current product lineup.
1. Background
Today, companies are increasingly working to reduce GHG emissions throughout their product supply chains, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from raw materials, known as Scope 3, in order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, as advocated by the Japanese government.
Asahi Kasei is working to reduce GHG emissions by manufacturing products using biomass-based materials with low GHG emissions in various engineering plastics such as Tenac™ polyacetal (POM) resin1. In this context, Asahi Kasei and Mitsui have worked together to find solutions to these issues.
2. Content of the initiative
In the United States, Mitsui procures RNG (renewable natural gas) generated from municipal waste landfills in the form of biogas, and uses it in the mass-balance approach2 to produce bio-methanol at Fairway Methanol, a local joint venture. Asahi Kasei and Mitsui have acquired the Interna