News

At Kurashiki plant (Tamashima) ,Kuraray Co., Ltd. began to use biomass fuel (scrap wood from demolition of structures) in 2002. Recent increases in supply and advances in technology are driving an increase in the annual use of this fuel at Kuraray(Tamashima)from 1,000 tons to 16,000 tons per year. We are now converting the fuel supply and feed machinery, and full-scale operation will commence in December, following incinerator trials.

To reduce environmental impact, Kuraray has been practicing thermal recycling (recovery of thermal energy from the incineration of waste) since 1987, using circulating fluidized bed boiler. The use of biomass fuel, which is effective in preventing global warming, is one element of the Company's CSR environmental preservation activities.

Three members of the incorporated nonprofit organization, Naka-Shikoku Wood Recycling Association, are located near the plant—Toyo Corporation, Matsudagumi Inc., and Kataoka kyu Building Contractors. These firms will supply the biomass fuel needed for the expansion (16,000 tons per year of wood scrap from demolition ). This will reduce the plant's environmental impact by decreasing its CO2 emissions by 22,000 tons per year.

Thermal recycling involves the efficient reutilization of plastic, paper, wood, and other combustibles to obtain thermal energy. These wastes are crushed, dried, sorted, molded into Refuse Paper & Plastic Fuel (RPF) pellets, and burned for fuel, efficiently recovering energy in the form of electricity or steam. Of these materials, plastic burns radiating higher heat , and if incinerated at sufficiently high temperatures virtually no dioxins are emitted. This plant plays an important role in reducing the volume of garbage as landfill through thermal recycling, together with reduction of dioxin emissions.

1. Thermal recycling at the Kuraray (Tamashima)

1987 Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding circulating fluidized bed boiler first installed and lit off. Coal is initially used for fuel.
1990 Commenced the mixed incineration of coal and waste combustibles from the plant.
1998 RPF manufacturing facilities installed. Certified as industrial waste
disposal operator. Commenced the recovery and reuse of in-house
and external waste plastics through thermal recycling. Through a tie-up with Kuraray's fibers and textiles business, Kuraray (Tamashima) has built a recycling system for used uniforms.
2001 Commenced sales of electric power to Chugoku Electric Power
Co., Inc., as a means of utilizing surplus power.
2002 Began using biomass fuel (scrap wood from demolition) as an
environmental protection measure and to expand its use of
inexpensive fuels.
2003 Incineration of scrap wood reaches approximately 1,000 tons per year. There are prospects for improvement of both supply and technology.

2. Wood Scrap Background

2002 The Construction Project Recycling Law imposed a duty to recycle. Incinerator shut down by strengthening of the Dioxin Law. As a result, scrap wood began to pile up.
2003 The Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) Law (which imposes more than a certain sales percentage of annual electric power generated from renewable sources — solar , wind , geothermal — on electric power generations and sellers (electric power providers)) has recently designated biomass fuel as new energy source. The power that Chugoku Electric Power purchases from Kuraray (Tamashima) qualifies as new energy, equivalent for ratio of used biomass fuel.