Sumitomo Chemical: Pilot plant for propylene production from ethanol

Japan's Sumitomo Chemical is building a pilot plant for the production of propylene from ethanol.

According to a press release, construction began at the end of October. The plant is being built at the company's Sodegaura site in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo. Completion is expected in the first half of 2025.

The plant will test a process developed by Sumitomo Chemical for extracting propylene from ethanol. The company wants to obtain the necessary data to scale up the technology for commercial use and obtain propylene samples for further processing into polypropylene. Sumitomo Chemical then plans to start commercial production with the new process and licence the technology to other companies in the early 2030s.

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No information is available on the level of investment associated with the development of the technology and the construction of the pilot plant. However, Sumitomo Chemical refers in its press release to the support of the project in Sodegaura by the Green Innovation Fund of the Japanese state funding agency NEDO.

Sumitomo Chemical already operates a pilot plant for the production of ethanol-based ethylene at the neighbouring Ichihara site. This uses the "Atol" process licensed from the French technology company Axens. According to earlier statements, Sumitomo Chemical intends to start commercial production here as early as 2025.

Sumitomo Chemical is part of the Japanese industrial conglomerate Sumitomo and reported an operating loss of JPY 134 billion (EUR 860 million) and a net loss of JPY 76 billion (EUR 490 million) from consolidated sales of JPY 1,187 billion (EUR 7.65 billion) for the first six months of the 2023/24 financial year.

More information: www.sumitomo-chem.co.jp

Sumitomo Chemical, Japan