On June 19, 2007, Mitsubishi Corporation and Kirin Brewery Co. won an order to build a bioethanol production plant for a "fuel-grade bioethanol production project" being conducted in the Tokachi District of Hokkaido, in northern Japan. This project has been selected by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan as a model for its "regional biofuel promotion program."
The ministry's program is aimed at supporting regional projects designed to produce biofuels using food processing by-products, substandard farm produce, etc., by providing a national subsidy for the construction and maintenance of biofuel production plants and equipment, in an effort to bring domestic biofuel operations fully on line.
In Tokachi, the project is being led by the Hokkaido Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives and the Hokuren Agricultural Cooperative Federation. A bioethanol plant with an annual production capacity of 15,000 kiloliters and using sugar beets and wheat as raw materials will be built on the premises of Hokuren's sugar refinery in Shimizu Town, Kamikawa County, Hokkaido.
A consortium led by Mitsubishi Corp. has contracted to build the plant, and Kirin Brewery will mainly be in charge of developing its fermentation section. Japan Chemical Engineering & Machinery Co. is slated to provide distillation system engineering expertise. The bioethanol plant is expected to start operation in March 2009.
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