Mitsubishi UBE Cement Corporation is starting new engagement with environmental measures such as CCUS and CCS. Let’s look at the unique circumstances and future prospects for the cement industry.

Mitsubishi UBE Cement Corporation is taking new steps in its environmental measures. In March of 2024, the company started a joint examination into carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) for CO₂ emissions with Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Osaka Gas”), aimed at carbon neutrality in the cement manufacturing process. Then in April, this was followed by the announcement of a joint study with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. which was launched to build a value chain related to carbon capture and storage (CCS) at a CO₂ storage site being developed jointly with Malaysian state-owned oil company and others.

These efforts are based on Mitsubishi UBE Cement Corporation’s medium-term management strategy announced in April 2023, Infinity with Will 2025 — MUCC Sustainable Plan 1st Step, with the company aiming at a 40% reduction in CO₂ emissions from 2013 levels by 2030, and to achieve group-wide carbon neutrality by 2050. With a focus on these initiatives, its policy is to continue contributing to the achievement of carbon neutrality through collaborating with other industries and local governments.

Next, let’s take a look at the specific details, turning first to the CCUS initiative with Osaka Gas. It involves the recovery of CO₂ emitted from thermal energy and cement raw materials in cement kilns (furnaces used to make cement) at Mitsubishi UBE Cement Corporation’s Kyushu Plant (Miyako-gun, Fukuoka Prefecture), which has the largest cement production capacity in Japan. Mitsubishi UBE Cement Corporation will jointly build a value chain for e-methane production and evaluate the economics side of such operation. It will involve CO₂ separation and recovery, liquefaction/storage, marine transportation of liquefied CO₂, and underground storage of CO₂ for the purpose of injecting and storing it deep underground and reusing it as e-methane.
Next, let’s take a look at the CCS initiative with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Jointly with the CCS business of a Malaysian state-owned oil company and the CCS business of French integrated energy company TotalEnergies, Mitsubishi UBE Cement Corporation is planning to develop CCS offshore Malaysia and start a storage business by around 2030. The project will involve processes ranging from the separation and recovery to the liquefaction and storage of CO₂ emitted by Ube Cement Plant (Ube-shi, Yamaguchi Prefecture). In addition, it will be responsible for operations ranging from the marine transport of liquefied CO₂ to Malaysia to the underground storage of CO₂ off the coast of the country. Mitsubishi UBE Cement Corporation will also investigate and study the necessary technical requirements and costs for the establishment of a series of value chains.

Presently, as a result of repeated mergers in Japan’s cement industry, the three leading companies, including Mitsubishi UBE Cement Corporation, account for about 80% of the market share. Cement operations necessitate large limestone mines and plants as well as a great deal of heavy equipment, so there are few opportunities for ventures with limited funds to enter the market. Also, there are hardly any imports due to the issue of transportation costs and the different quality standards in each country. Therefore, competition is almost exclusively from domestic companies in the same industry, and this is a characteristic of the industry. Kenichi Goto, , Assistant Manager, Carbon-neutral Technology Promotion Office, Global Environment Preservation Project explains the current state of the industry as follows.

“Ten years ago, the domestic demand for cement was at about 45 million tons annually, but currently it’s less than 35 million tons. Demand may appear high in urban areas such as Tokyo, but demand in rural areas is not growing as it did in the past, and we’re seeing annual declines in overall domestic demand. Also, labor shortages are becoming more serious at construction sites, and construction schedules are often pushed back. Work is not progressing and the annual use of cement is declining.”

“And although demand is on a declining trend, the cement industry has higher CO₂ emissions than most other industries as it uses coal for thermal energy and limestone (which emits CO₂ when heated) as a raw material. As such, the cement industry needs to take more proactive steps toward solving this issue.”

Mr. Goto continues: “CCS is not commonly at use in the cement industry, so there is almost no precedent for it at cement plants. While the cement industry has determined to move in a carbon neutral direction, specific measures have yet to be clarified. In that sense, this initiative represented a great challenge for us.”

In seeking to achieve carbon neutrality, there’s a limit to the impact of a single company’s CCS initiatives. It’s imperative that we form alliances with other companies and build a series of CCS value chains. You could say that this joint effort is a part of that.

Regarding the Osaka Gas project, another new initiative is involved—methanation. It is a form of technology for the recovery, hydrogen synthesis, and production of e-methane from the CO₂ emitted in the cement manufacturing process. This e-methane can be used as a substitute for raw materials in city gas and coal at cement plants. We asked Tomohiko Takahashi, Assistant Manager, Cement Group, Cement Laboratory, Research & Development Center at Mitsubishi UBE Cement Corporation about this kind of CCUS for the collection, storage, and reuse of CO₂.

“For this project, we installed the system in small-scale equipment at our Kyushu plant. Our proof of concept for the methanation involved separating and recovering CO₂ from the gas emitted by cement plants and using it for methane synthesis. It was a success, meaning we have found a new way to reuse CO₂.”

There is precedent for CO₂ separation and recovery technology being installed at chemical plants and steel mills, but only on a small scale. CO₂ recycling is also at use, but not in large-scale installations in cement plants yet in Japan.
Mr. Takahashi explains, “In reality, we at a stage where we do not know what the problems will arise in CO₂ recovery. Therefore, we are starting with small-scale facilities, repeatedly conducting studies to evaluate performance, identify problems, and take measures to solve them. We have found a path to CO₂ recovery and reuse through this project, so now we plan to expand the scale of our operations while building know-how.”

Mitsubishi UBE Cement Corporation is taking an active approach to achieving carbon neutrality. We asked about Mr. Goto about the challenges the company will face in moving forward with its policy.
“As you would imagine, we’re looking at cost increases. There’s a large investment required that’s difficult to recover. We’ll continue closely monitoring the Japanese government’s carbon pricing and other systems, and actively pursuing measures. However, I think it’s a very difficult decision for the company to make at this point. We feel that the key point is finding ways to reduce costs while enhancing the environmental value of our products.”

The world is already on the path to carbon neutrality. The cement industry, which has high CO₂ emissions, will maintain its policy of initiatives in line with this movement.
Mr. Goto says, “That is why we will continue our efforts to reduce and recover CO₂ emissions, while simultaneously actively taking on the challenge for technological innovation, such as recycling. That will be our approach.”