Carbon Neutrality
The Toho Titanium Group has declared “carbon neutrality,” accomplishing virtually net zero CO2 emissions, as a global challenge in order to realize a sustainable society. We engage in a variety of measures toward the realization of a decarbonized society.
Roadmap for the accomplishment of carbon neutrality in 2050
Our corporate group is aiming to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 40% from 2018 in 2030 and accomplish carbon neutrality by 2050 through measures based on a new titanium refining technology.
Main initiatives
– To decrease CO2 emissions from the manufacturing process to zero
- New titanium refining technology, etc. (about -12%)
– Energy conservation/Effective energy utilization
- New titanium refining technology, etc. (about -50%)
- Thorough exhaust heat recovery/utilization, etc. (about -2%)
– Shift to green sources for the energy we use
- Purchase of green power, etc. (about -25%)
- Renewable energy production/participation in related projects (about -17%)
Regarding the development of a new titanium refining technology
Our company has engaged in the joint development with a U.S. company whose major business is the research into titanium refining, partially receiving support from the Strategic Energy Conservation Technology Innovation Program managed by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). As a result, we concluded that this technology is extremely promising from the viewpoint of reducing manufacturing costs, energy consumption, CO2 emissions, etc., and we launched a demonstration test at a pilot plant in FY 2022.
This new titanium refining technology will comprise the core of the vision for carbon neutrality in 2050 and we aim to put it into practice in 2025.
Steps of the process
Envisioned development of the new titanium refining technology
- We conducted joint research with a U.S. titanium
refining research company for 3 years - Pilot test launched in FY 2022
- Aiming for practical use in FY 2025
This technology development is described in the “R&D” chapter, so please refer to it. Moreover, this new titanium refining technology as well as cutting-edge research and development our company has been promoting, such as the technology for the direct manufacturing of titanium foil by electrocrystallization and high-performance porous titanium sheets, was introduced as a PR article in the Nature Index 2021 Materials Science.
Nature Index 2021 Materials Science page (English):
https://www.nature.com/articles/d42473-021-00166-8
Adopting CO2-free power
Our corporate group adopted CO2-free energy for the Chigasaki Plant, part of the Wakamatsu Plant and the Hitachi Plant in FY 2021 and the Kurobe Plant in FY 2023, respectively. We will promote the adoption of CO2-free energy to reduce carbon dioxide emission.
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Chigasaki Plant
- Chemicals Business
- Using CO2-free power since April 2021
- Catalysts Business
- Using CO2-free power since October 2021
- Titanium Metals Business (high-purity metal)
- Using CO2-free power since April 2022
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Wakamatsu Plant
- Chemicals Business
- Using CO2-free power since April 2021
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Kurobe Plant
- Catalysts Business
- Using CO2-free power since April 2023
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Hitachi Plant
- Titanium Metals Business
- Using CO2-free power since October 2021