September 26, 2023
Japan’s First* 1 Development of Heavy Water Reconcentration Equipment andEstablishment of a Sustainable Recycling System-- Equipment Reinforcement to Strengthen the Supply Capacity of Deuterium -Labeled
Compounds* 2 --Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation (President: Kenji Nagata; hereinafter “TNSC”), a Japaneseindustrial gas company in Nippon Sanso Holdings Group, has developed an equipment that canreconcentrate the used heavy water that were previously disposed of in the past, and has
established a heavy water recycling system. TNSC is the first Japanese company tocommercialize heavy water reconcentration. The establishment of the recycling system wil l
reduce the amount of waste heavy water, enable efficient and sustainable use of heavy water, andcontribute to the stabilization of the supply of deuterium -labeled compounds to meet domestic
and international demand.
Note *1: Based on the research of TNSC
*2: Deuterium-labeled compounds is a general term for compounds in which some or all of the hydrogenatoms in the compound are replaced by deuterium (D).

Heavy water reconcentration equipment (exterior view)- 1 -1. Background
Heavy water is water that contains a large amount of deuterium, a stable isotope ofhydrogen. It is used in a variety of research fields including nuclear energy and the researchof solvent for NMR analysis. In addition to deuterated ammonia,* 3 we manufacture and sella wide variety of deuterium-labeled compounds, while using heavy water as a source of
deuterium for these compounds.
The process of producing deuterium-labeled compounds involves deuteration reactions inwhich hydrogen atoms are replaced by deuterium atoms. Th ese reaction become more
efficient as the concentration of deuterium in the heavy water used as a raw material
increases. This is due to decreased concentration as the reaction progresses, and becomes
necessary to replace the heavy water with a new batch. Until now, most of the heavy waterthat were used once and with low deuterium concentration were disposed of. In addition,
heavy water is not an easy substance to obtain on a stable basis, as it is susceptible tooverseas supply and demand conditions and the export policies of the countries it sourced
from. Japan now relies on imports from abroad for all of its domestic needs for heavy water.
Note *3: News Release dated May 31, 2023, “Notice Regarding Launch of Deuterated Ammonia (Ammonia d 3 )”2. Overview and future plans
We have applied our own technology to develop equipment for reconcentrating the heavy
water that has been used for research, deuteration reaction, and other purposes, and haveestablished a system for recycling heavy water at the Tsukuba Laboratory. Since used heavy
water after a deuteration reaction contains various impurities depending on its history,impurities are first removed through a purification operation.
Then, the deuterium-enriched heavy water is obtained through a distillation-based
reconcentration equipment developed in-house. This equipment is capable of both
continuous and batch processing, achieve atomic deuterium concentration greater than 99%
in reconcentrated heavy water, and have an annual production capacity of 150 kg. By using
this recycling system, a portion of the heavy water used for deuterium -labeled compounds
can be sourced in-house, and the amount of waste heavy water is expected to be reduced byhalf compared to our previous system.
Going forward, we will continue to maintain stable operation of the reconcentrationequipment, explore heavy water reuse needs outside the company, and study ways to increase
production in response to demand.

Recycling process for used heavy water- 2 -【Company Overview】
Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation
Business description: Manufacture and sale of various industrial gases such as oxygen,nitrogen, argon, LP gas, gas for medical uses, and specialty gases,
manufacture and sale of welding equipment and materials, gas -related
devices, and, air separation equipment, assembly, processing,inspection of electrical components, and equipment maintenance
Established:
October 30, 1910
Incorporated:February 4, 2020
Capital:
1.5 billion yen
Shareholder:
Nippon Sanso Holdings Corporation (Investment ratio: 100%)
Revenue:420.4 billion yen*
*Note: This figure shows the revenue of Japan for Nippon Sanso
Holdings Corporation in FYE2023

Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation
Tnsc.Info@tn-sanso.co.jp- 3 -