Mitsui & Co., Ltd. has underwritten a third-party allotment of new shares by Twelve Benefit Corporation, a US company developing the manufacturing technology and business for synthetic fuels.
Synthetic fuel is a liquid fuel synthesized through chemical and catalytic reactions using green hydrogen and carbon dioxide (CO2) as raw materials. It reduces GHG emissions by more than 90% compared to fossil fuel-derived fuels. Synthetic fuels can be used for a variety of purposes, including transportation and industrial fuels. In particular, in areas such as aviation, shipping, and long-distance land transport, where decarbonization through electrification and hydrogenization is difficult, there are high expectations for their introduction as a decarbonization solution, as the transportation equipment itself and related infrastructure for transportation and storage can be used as they are.
Twelve is a leading company with an advantage in efficient CO2 electrolysis technology. The CO2 electrolysis technology commercialized by the company is one of the methods to cleanly produce synthetic gas (generated from clean energy, water, and CO2), the core substance of synthetic fuel, without raw material constraints. It is said that the scale of production facilities can be expanded in the medium to long term, and there is room for significant cost reduction. The first production plant (Moses Lake, Washington, USA, production scale up to 5 barrels / day) is currently under construction and is scheduled to be operational in 2025. Alaska Airlines, IAG (International Airlines Group), Microsoft, and others have signed off-take agreements for e-SAF / e-Naphtha / environmental value produced at this plant and future large-scale plants. The world’s first commercial e-SAF flight is also scheduled for 2025 in the United States.
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Twelve’s investments include other Japanese companies such as Mitsui & Co., Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Development Bank of Japan, TGVP, and Advantage Partners.
Mitsui is accelerating a wide range of initiatives in the carbon value chain, from CO2 capture, including Direct Air Capture (DAC), to CO2 storage through Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS), CO2 utilization, such as the production of synthetic fuels, and the creation and sale of credits. In the area of synthetic fuels, we aim to offer a range of promising solutions with different technologies in order to capture the significant growth in the future. First, we will deepen our collaboration with Twelve to expand our carbon-neutral fuel manufacturing and sales business, linking various CO2 raw materials from clean energy development, biomass, DAC, etc. with the demand for each fuel, and maximize the value of the value chain. We will also contribute to the creation of a carbon management industry by expanding our large-scale decarbonized fuel business globally.
SOURCE: PRTimes
