Artificial Photosynthesis Project

Japan's chemical industry is one of its biggest, with total shipments valued at around 44-trillion yen with approximately 880,000 employees as of FY2015. The industry manufactures many products that boast high technological value and industrial competitiveness. At the same time, the industry is responsible for consuming a considerable amount of naphtha and other fossil resources as raw materials for its products and the impact on global warming of the industry's CO₂ emissions are a concern. In addition, there are constant risks that imported oil— which Japan depends upon—will increase in price and may become depleted.

The goal of this project is to partially imitate the plant photosynthesis process—which is used to produce key chemicals, including plastic raw materials from CO₂ and hydrogen from sunlight and water (solar-hydrogen)—in order to realize the practical application of an innovative chemical manufacturing process that does not rely on fossil resources. This project is positioned as a Future Pioneering Project aimed at the creation of innovation to serve as a catalyst for the future growth of Japan's chemical industry. More specifically, this project involves: (1) the development of a photocatalyst offering high energy conversion efficiency to produce hydrogen from water by using solar energy and the development of advanced separation membranes to separate solar hydrogen and oxygen, and (2) the development of a high-efficiency synthetic catalyst to produce plastic raw materials and other core chemical products from CO₂. The effective utilization of sunlight—a form of renewable energy—and the CO₂ emitted by factories is expected to lead to a reduction in CO₂ emissions and contribute to the achievement of a low-carbon society.

■ Current research and development themes

• Research and development theme (1): Development of technology for solar hydrogen and other production processes
• Research and development theme (2): Development of carbon dioxide recycling process technology

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  Project diagram