Biofuels

Production of cellulosic bioethanol toward a carbon-neutral society

From the viewpoint of reducing CO₂ emissions, we can expect bioethanol to be used in a variety of applications such as automobile fuel and raw material for chemical products. In addition, the production of jet fuels using bioethanol as raw material has recently been attracting attention.
At present, bioethanol produced around the world comes mainly from food crops such as sugarcane and corn, so there is concern that it may compete with food. ENEOS is developing technology for producing bioethanol using cellulose resources as raw materials such as woody biomass like pulp and used paper that cannot be used as food. Through our own research and development using gene expression analysis and metabolism simulation, we have succeeded in improving the production efficiency of bioethanol dramatically by developing the yeast that can produce ethanol not only from xylose, a C5 sugar, as well as glucose, a C6 sugar, with high efficiency (Figure 1).

Development of continuous ethanol-production process for practical use

ENEOS is developing a process toward the practical use of cellulosic bioethanol. Our continuous ethanol-production process combines efficient pre-processing, a saccharification and fermentation process using enzymes that degrade biomass and the proprietary yeast, and a recovery and circulation process for enzymes and the yeast, all of which reduces production costs. In addition to basic studies at the laboratory level, we have used this process to operate a 100 kL/year demonstration plant and have successfully demonstrated the continuous production of ethanol for more than 20 days as a world’s first^*. We also verified that bioethanol produced by this process emits less CO₂ than combustion of fossil resources.

^* According to ENEOS survey

At present, we are working toward the social implementation of cellulosic bioethanol by studying the diversification of raw materials, increasing the efficiency of ethanol production, and reducing CO₂ emissions all the more. In 2026, we plan to open a new pilot plant using used paper and other raw materials. We are also studying the scale-up of plant operations and developing technologies with the aim of achieving plant operation on a commercial scale from 2030 on.

ENEOS will contribute to the realization of a carbon-neutral society through the practical implementation of the production technology of cellulosic bioethanol which is expected to be used as automobile fuel, raw material for chemical products, and jet fuels.