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3 business domains

Ammonia does not emit CO₂ when burned, so it is attracting attention as a potential alternative energy source to coal and heavy oil. Idemitsu has long handled ammonia in the oil refining process. Utilizing this knowledge, the company aims to set up an ammonia import base using existing infrastructure at Tokuyama Complex (Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture) and supply ammonia to each company in the petrochemical complex.
We are accelerating our consideration of building a clean ammonia supply chain, including by working with Mitsubishi Corporation to procure ammonia from manufacturing projects in North America and to improve the efficiency of ammonia carriers and import receiving centers. In Australia, we are also leveraging the business foundation we have cultivated in the coal business to participate in studies and surveys regarding ammonia production and export, steadily accumulating knowledge about supply chains, including procurement.
We are also working on developing technology that does not reduce thermal efficiency when ammonia is mixed with petroleum or heavy oil, and on research and development to significantly reduce CO₂ emissions during ammonia production. The Haber-Bosch process, which is currently widely used as a method of producing ammonia, requires a large amount of energy to produce ammonia by reacting hydrogen and nitrogen under high temperature and pressure, which is problematic because it produces a large amount of CO₂ and is costly. To solve this problem, we are working with the University of Tokyo and others to establish and mass-produce ammonia production technology under mild reaction conditions at room temperature and pressure, with the aim of realizing a carbon-free ammonia production process.

Although there is growing interest in the problem of marine plastic litter and climate change, only 20% of used plastic resources in Japan are recycled. In order to break through this current situation, Idemitsu Kosan is working on "oil conversion technology, "which breaks down used plastic to a state similar to crude oil, and is one of the method called "chemical recycling. "We are working on developing technology that can convert plastics into oil even when multiple plastics are mixed together, which has been considered a bottleneck in recycling. The "Produced oil" produced through oilification is recycled as a raw material for petrochemical products and fuel oil by utilizing existing oil refining facilities and petrochemical equipment.