Mitsui Chemicals, Microwave Chemical and Chiyoda to develop naphtha cracking tech using microwave heating
Japanese firms Microwave Chemical, Chiyoda Corporation and Mitsui Chemicals have started the joint development of an innovative naphtha cracking technology using microwave heating.
The three companies aim to commercialise the project by leveraging their respective expertise.
Currently, the domestic petrochemical industry emits 60.18 million tonnes of CO2 annually of which 51.5% comes from ethylene plants. Ethylene plants, the starting point of the petrochemical industry, use fossil fuels for the pyrolysis of naphtha, and the CO2 emitted from these plants is one of the challenges to achieving carbon neutrality. Therefore, fuel conversion to hydrogen and ammonia, which do not produce CO2 , and transition to electrification processes are currently being developed.
M-Cracker developed by Microwave Chemical Co converts the energy source of the naphtha cracking technology, the basic chemical production process, to microwave heating. This will result in a new concept of cracking process that differs from conventional methods by directly heating the reaction field, which is a characteristic of the microwave process. Furthermore, the M-Cracker will be further improved in near future by adopting the advanced catalytic naphtha-cracking technology, which has been developed by Chiyoda Corporation.
Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. is promoting various initiatives besides this project, aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050. There are high hopes for its application in the decomposition of alternative feedstocks to naphtha, such as bio-based raw materials.
Microwave Chemical, which has expertise in scale-up of microwave processes, Chiyoda Corporation, which has extensive experience in EPC business for ethylene plants, and Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. which operates the longest ethylene plant in Japan, will conduct joint development for implementation to boost the profitability of ethylene plants from Japan.
