Toyota, Iwatani and JGC have agreed to work together to use waste as a new source of hydrogen. The three Japanese firms have devised a system that will make it possible to convert used plastics into energy.
The automaker Toyota, the industrial gas giant Iwatani and the engineering company JGC Holdings, have announced a collaboration through which they will generate green hydrogen through the use of domestic and industrial plastic, an agreement that should result in the start of production in 2025.
The process devised by these three Japanese corporations is based on the use of recycled plastic to be crushed and later burned at low and high temperatures in gasification furnaces.
The use of recycled plastic has double benefits
This technique allows the creation of syngas, which contains carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2). Finally, an addition of water vapor will be made to increase the hydrogen concentration, subsequently eliminating said vapor with an absorber.
Do you want to know the environmental implications of using water to produce hydrogen? Do not miss this article that we have prepared about it.
Hydrogen, key in decarbonisation
The industry looks to the future with concern, as the decarbonization It is presented as a major challenge and there is no clear roadmap on how to tackle it.
Many point to hydrogen as the key to success and countries as Japan They clearly bet on this unlimited element, but which is only associated with others and, therefore, requires various processes to obtain it.
The conversion of waste or biomass into energy is one of them and the Asian firms mentioned want to go a step further, since the use of recycled plastic raises double benefits.
And it is that, regardless of the limitations that Japan has to install wind or solar parks in its territory, the abundance of plastic waste is a global problem worldwide. Every year, only Japan produces 9.4 million tons and each Japanese citizen generates an average of 37 kilograms of single-use plastic waste each year.
The fact is that practically almost none of the plastic waste in the Japanese country is recycled internally. Nowadays, 67% is incinerated and 12% is exported. These practices contribute 13 million tons of CO₂ equivalent to the atmosphere each year. Another 8% of that waste goes directly to landfills.
It is not surprising, therefore, that it is Japan who intends to lead this new method of production of green hydrogenSomething that other countries will undoubtedly benefit from if the technique proves to be viable and profitable.