Japan’s MHI to fit CO2 capture unit at biomass plant

Japanese engineering firm Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has won a deal to install a small-scale CO2 capture system at a biomass power generation plant in the country to ensure negative emissions, potentially going beyond carbon neutrality.

MHI plans to install a 0.3 t/d CO2 recovery unit at a 7.1MW biomass power plant operated by fellow engineering firm Taihei Dengyo through its wholly-owned subsidiary MHI Engineering. The system, which uses MHI's pilot bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (Beccs) technology, is expected to begin operations in June 2022.

MHI has refined the Beccs technology, which is also planned for use at a biomass power plant owned by UK power generator Drax, by adding automated systems and other functions for commercialisation.

Taihei Dengyo operates the biomass power plant at Seifu Shinto in western Japan's Hiroshima prefecture. The plant burns wood chips produced mainly from locally supplied unused woody materials to generate around 49 GWh/yr of electricity. The company aims to use the CO2 captured using MHI's system to grow plants.

By Motoko Hasegawa