Production of Alternative Fuel
Using Biomass Gasification
Technology
RYUTARO MORI*1

YOSHINORI OKI*1

KEIJI TAKENO*2

KEIGO MATSUMOTO*3

4HIROMI ISHII*4

YOSHINORI KOBAYASHI*

Recently, energy security has become an important issue worldwide due to surging oil prices. There are signs of intensecompetition for energy resources, such as the rise in resource nationalism and the efforts of many nations to secure their interests inforeign countries. Under such circumstances, the relative decline in Japan’s buying power against developing countries like Chinaand India together with a rapidly increasing energy demand seems unavoidable in the future. Therefore, improving the energy selfsufficiency ratio and securing highly convenient liquid fuel for transportation will become important issues in Japan. Liquid fuelproduction technology that uses biomass gasification as its key process, integrating several technologies that have been developed by
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), constitutes one solution to these challenges.

1. Reducing the oil dependency ratio and improving
the energy self-sufficiency ratio

2.2 MHI’s biomass gasification and liquid fuelsynthesis technology

Japan impor ts 96% of its primar y energ y needs. InFY2005, this amounted to almost 16 trillion Japanese yen
paid to foreign countries. Furthermore, the dependency ofprimary energy on oil amounts to 50%. Hence, the current
rise in oil prices is having a large impact, not only on people’slives, but also on the industrial competitiveness of Japan.
Under these circumstances, for the continued development ofJapan, it is necessary to further reduce its dependence on oil,and to increase the non-oil ratio of primary energy. However,considering the intense competition for natural gas, coal, andeven uranium resources worldwide, it is necessary to improve
the self-sufficiency ratio of energy by utilizing renewableenergy and to realize a nuclear fuel cycle.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ biomass gasifier makes useof an entrained-bed gasification system that features lesstar yield and high slagging resistance. It is also capableof controlling the composition of gasification gas throughbiomass gasification with steam and oxygen in order toproduce gas suitable for methanol synthesis. In a projectsponsored by the New Energy and Industrial TechnologyDevelopment Organization (NEDO) in partnership withChubu Electric Power and the National Institute of Advanced
I ndust r ia l S cience a nd Technolog y ( A IS T ), M H I has
verified gasification and methanol synthesis using woody
biomass ( Japanese cedar, broad leaf trees, bark, wood,
driftwood, scrap building wood) as feedstock in a test plant(refer to Fig. 1 and Table 1). In the demonstration plant,
which can process two tons of biomass per day, we havesucceeded in building an integrated operation from biomass
preparation to methanol synthesis using woody biomassand a thermally self-sustained gasif ier. T he methanol
weight yield also reached the target level of 20%, and has thepotential to reach a maximum of 50% in a commercial plant
through improvements in thermal loss. As developmentof a pre -dr ying processing device, a project sponsoredby the Ministr y of Agriculture, Forestr y and Fisheries,
and development of a by-product recycle system, a projectsponsored by NEDO, have been completed, MHI is currently
developing the technology to synthesize alternative light oil
fuel by combining Fischer-Tropsch (F T) synthesis togetherwith the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Scienceand Technology.
Other than gasification, ethanol fermentation is anothermethod for synthesizing liquid fuel using biomass material.
However, in view of the diversity of feedstock, the processing
time, and the equipment size, gasification has a high potential

2. Oxygen-blown gasification and fuel synthesis ofbiomass
2.1 The importance of utilizing biomass
In the transportation sector, which accounts for about 40%of the total oil consumption in Japan, liquid fuel, because of
its high energy density and portability, will remain the main
fuel in use until the full-scale introduction of electric vehicles
or fuel cell vehicles. Simultaneously, biomass is the only
renewable energy resource that can be utilized as a carbon
source for liquid fuel production. Therefore, the technology
to synthesize liquid fuel from biomass will play a significant
role in improving the energy self-sufficiency of Japan.
In addition, Japan’s target under the Kyoto Protocol is a
6% reduction in CO2 emissions from 1990 levels by 2012. Asmuch as two-thirds of this, or 3.9%, is expected to come fromforest absorption. However, this is possible only for foreststhat are properly maintained. To attain this target effectively,
forest administration is necessary, such as expanding the useof wood material and the use of thinned wood.
*1 Technology Planning Department, Technical Headquarters*2 Takasago Research & Development Center, Technical Headquarters*3 Nagasaki Research & Development Center, Technical Headquarters*4 Power Systems Headquarters

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
Technical Review Vol. 45 No. 1 (Mar. 2008)

67

WaterGrinder
VolumetricfeederScrubberRaw materialhopper
Gasifier

DryingMethanol synthesis reactor
Dust removing unit

Biomass
feedstockOxygen

Off-gasBoosterAshSteam
Biomass
preparation
unit

Gasifier

Waste water

MethanolGas purification unit

Methanol synthesis unit

Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of the bio-methanol manufacturing system

the feedstock. It also uses electricity from renewable energy
or nuclear power and oxygen and hydrogen produced inwater electrolysis. This technology can contribute to a large
reduction in CO2 emissions.
I n a d d i t i o n t o m e t h a n ol s y nt h e s i s w i t h b i o m a s s
gasification, MHI is also engaged in manufacturing windturbines, solar cells, nuclear power generators, and the EPC(engineering, procurement and construction) of various
types of chemical plants. Lithium ion secondary batteries
and solid polymer water electrolysis are being developed.
MHI will integrate these technologies to provide a single
system to reduce dependence on oil.

Table 1 Target values and results obtained for cold gas efficiency
and methanol yield of test plant and planned values forcommercial plant.
Item

2 tons/day
test plant(target)

2 tons/day
test plant(results)

Commercial plant(planned)

Biomass
processing
capacity

2 tons/day

2 tons/day

50 – 100 tons/day

Cold gasefficiency *165% or above

60 – 67%

75% or above

Methanol yield2(weight)*

20% or above

18 – 21%50%
at a maximum*1 Calculated based on a feedstock biomass heat value of 100 %*2 Calculated based on a feedstock biomass weight value of 100 %4. The properties and applications of DME
A candidate product in the liquid fuel chain that can beproduced by the above system is dimethyl ether (DME). It is
obtained by methanol dehydration and can also be produced
from various hydrocarbons. Therefore, it is a multi-source,
multi-purpose fuel that can be used in various devices, suchas gas turbines, boilers, diesel engines, and householdburners. Further, because it does not produce ash dust or
sulphur oxides during combustion, DME is environmentallyfriendly and is expected to be an efficient, clean fuel for
automobiles when used with diesel engines, which are more
efficient than gasoline engines.
Mitsubishi Heav y Industries has been promoting thedevelopment of technologies that use DME fuel, especially inequipment that consumes energy. In 2001, MHI established
a company jointly with Mitsubishi Gas Chemical, Itochu
Corporation, and JGC Corporation (Japan DME) to conduct
feasibility studies in this area. MHI is also investing inFuel DME Production, where the production of DME istargeted to begin in 2008. This plant will have an annual
production capacity of 80,000 tons, and it is currently underconstruction at the Niigata site of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical
Company. Through these activities, we are working toward
the widespread adoption of DME in Japan.

to replace ethanol fermentation. Furthermore, with regard
to the type of biomass used, as the competition between fuel,human food, and animal feedstuff becomes more intense,
it is likely that future biomass will be derived mainly from
cellulose material from non-food substances. Hence, as thisgasification system can also make use of cellulose material,
its demand is expected to grow worldwide.

3. Proposing a system to reduce dependence on oil
Figure 2 shows the liquid fuel production process that
adopts liquid fuel production technology using biomass as

Secondary batteries
Windturbines
Solar cellsNuclear energy

Waterelectrolysis
Converter

Biomass

OxygenHydrogen

Liquid fuelGasification production

Alternativeoil fuelFig. 2 Liquid fuel production chain

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
Technical Review Vol. 45 No. 1 (Mar. 2008)68

to the sustainable development of Japan by promoting thisconcept to the government and other involved parties.

5. Conclusions
This report has introduced MHI’s efforts to develop liquid
fuel production technology using biomass domestically.
This is because using liquid fuel obtained from carbonneutral biomass makes a big contribution to energy security
and environmental protection. However, the practicaluse of biomass energy in Japan faces a big obstacle in thehigh collection cost of biomass. We believe that, insteadof merely looking at the heat value of energy, evaluating
the cost of energy based on the concept of the 3Es (Energy
secur it y, Env i ronment a l protect ion, a nd sust a i nable
Economic growth) will become essential for the futuresustainable development of Japan. In this model, money
spent on importing fossil fuels from overseas will be weighedagainst the benefits of reallocating it domestically, such as
by enhancing domestic agriculture, forestry and fisheries
and revitalizing local communities. Therefore, along withtechnological development, we would like to contribute

Reference
1. Nakatani, H. et al., Development of Integrated System of BioMethanol Synthesis by Biomass Gasification, Mitsubishi Juko
Giho Vol.42 No.3 (2005) p.130

Ryutaro Mori

Yoshinori Oki

Keiji Takeno

Keigo Matsumoto

Yoshinori Kobayashi

Hiromi Ishii

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
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