Chugai Ro Co., a major Japanese thermal technology company, and Koromogawa village in Iwate Prefecture, northern Japan, have jointly developed a technology to directly synthesize carbon nanotubes (CNTs) from gasified woody biomass. Patent applications were filed on September 7, 2005.

Forested land accounts for 80% of Koromogawa's area, but these forests have degraded in the absence of maintenance such as thinning out under-grown trees, due to the continuing slump in domestic forest industries. As part of the effort to reverse the continuing devaluation of forest resources, the village launched a project to use gasified woody biomass for power generation in 2001, and introduced Chugai Ro gasification furnaces in fiscal 2003 for experimental studies. In May 2005, CNTs were successfully synthesized as a co-product of this woody biomass gasification process.

Japanese cedar chips supplied from the village are converted into gas in a rotary kiln furnace heated to high temperatures. This carbon-rich gas mixture is purified and reacts with catalyst particles in a synthesis furnace to produce CNTs. The synthesis using woody biomass, a renewable source of energy rather than conventional oil and natural gas, can fixate carbon dioxide from trees that would otherwise be returned to the air during decomposition, leading to a net reduction of atmospheric CO2.

The excellent physical properties of these CNTs means they can be used in a variety of applications, for example, as electron emitters for the luminance output of individual pixels in field emission displays, or as battery electrode materials for electric double-layer capacitors, lithium-ion rechargeable cells, and fuel cells. Offering a promise of future applications, the development of CNT technology is attracting increasing interest from a wide range of fields, including electronic information, energy technology and medical treatment.

http://www.chugai.co.jp/index_e.html
- Japan's First Power Generation Using Gasified Woody Biomass in Iwate Prefecture (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/db/574-e

Posted: 2006/02/26 11:48:56 AM
Japanese version

TAG Ecosystem , Energy , Global warming , Local government , Manufacturing industry