Showa Denko Gas Products Co., Ltd. (SGP), a consolidated subsidiary of Showa Denko (SDK) has decided to establish a new plant to produce liquefied carbon dioxide (CO2) gas in Showa Denko’s Oita Petrochemical Complex located in Oita City, Oita Prefecture. The new plant will utilize stable CO2 gas sources in the Complex. The new plant is scheduled to start operation in August 2018 and will have an annual production capacity of 15,000 tons.
CO2 gas and dry ice (solidified CO2) are used in beverages, food, and other manufacturing industries. CO2 gas generated as a by-product of oil-refining, steel-making and ammonia production processes. However, the scaling back of oil-refining and ammonia production processes in Japan has resulted in a reduction of sources of raw CO2 gas to produce liquefied CO2 gas.
Since further reduction in sources of raw CO2 gas is foreseen, the supply-demand situation for liquefied CO2 gas and dry ice is expected to be even tighter in the future. To cope with these problems, SDK and SGP decided to found the new base to produce liquefied CO2 gas.