Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engine & Turbocharger, Ltd. (MHIET) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Corporation (MHI-AC&R) have joined together with two shared intentions. These are to push the drive of achieving a carbon neutral society through operating a liquefaction system and to show that the company’s combined strengths will help to provide solutions to the decarbonisation requirements of consumers and society.
The companies recently began operating a demonstration on this system which works through liquefying the Co2 captured from gas engine generator sets. By combining this operating system with other related technologies, the companies aim to aid and accelerate the efforts to carbon neutrality.
The demonstration program will operate through a compact Co2 capture system called “CO2MPACT” which will capture the Co2 produced from gas engine generator sets, which are situated at MHIET’s Sagamihara Plant. These sets make-up part of an in-house power station at the plant and once captured, the Co2 is then goes through MHI-AC&R’s compact liquefication system. The demonstration will work with expertise of the Research and Innovation Centre, which is in charge of R&D in MHI Group, and will target early practical application. They will focus on this area as once liquefied, carbon dioxide has less volume than when it is in a gaseous state and is therefore more transportable, so liquefied Co2 has great potential to benefit and drive forward the adoption of Carbon dioxide Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS).
Alongside the first parts of the project, MHI’s remote monitoring systems will be implemented into the Co2 liquefaction demonstration test program, these will provide verification of operational support services. This particular verification is the same as the one used for Co2 capture systems that has been being utilised in the demonstration test since 2022. The benefits of holding this test will be that understanding around the handling of liquefied Co2 will be acquired, as well as generating and integrating a customer support system through the Co2 capture to liquefaction process.
The aim overall for the MHI Group is to meet their carbon neutrality by 2040 goal and now the company is also focusing on strategies for decarbonising their energy supply side. A core part of this goal will be enabled through the creation of a Co2 solutions ecosystem which links diverse carbon emission sources with solutions for storage and utilisation. Furthermore, the demonstration test program will allow each part of the process to be operated through applying MHI Group’s collective strengths.
The next steps for this project will see the MHI Group searching for developments to solutions in multiple industrial field which will have the collective result of contributing to environmental protection for issues such as decarbonisation demands from consumers and society. All solutions discovered and developed will create a collective drive towards reaching a carbon neutral society.