MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI)has announced that it has invested in Starfire Energy Inc, a US developer of modular chemical plants for green ammonia and hydrogen production, according to Kemicalinfo with reference to the company's statement.
The partnership with the Colorado-based company will “advance the development of commercial scale applications to decarbonise ammonia production and unlock its potential as a zero-carbon energy carrier”, MHI said in a news release. “The investment has been executed through MHI America, joining a consortium of investors, including AP Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, New Energy Technologies and Osaka Gas USA.”
As per the company's press release ammonia is a solution with an energy density comparable to fossil fuels and higher than Li-ion batteries, compressed or liquid hydrogen. Ammonia can be stored and transported, leveraging established infrastructure and shipping networks. It can be used directly as a fuel or it can be ‘cracked’, and its hydrogen harvested, to provide a means of hydrogen storage and transportation.
Starfire Energy’s ‘Rapid Ramp NH3’ ammonia synthesis technology produces zero carbon ammonia using only renewable energy, air and water as inputs. The modular solution is sized to connect directly with renewable energy production, providing a scalable, distributed source of zero carbon ammonia. The company has also developed their carbon-free fire, a system to crack ammonia back into hydrogen, providing an efficient means of green hydrogen storage and transportation.
We remind that, as MRC informed before, Mitsubishi Chemical Corp (MCC) consolidated its headquarter functions for its global methyl methacrylate (MMA) business in Singapore, and renamed its major MMA subsidiaries to Mitsubishi Chemical Methacrylates, effective 1 April, 2021. The move is aimed at optimising the company's global product supply network by utilising digital technologies that connect regional production, costs and supply and demand.
We also remind that in December 2020, Mitsubishi Chemical acquired a greenfield property at a large integrated site in Geismar, Louisiana, and plans to advance its feasibility study for the design and construction of a 350,000-metric tons/year MMA plant. The plant will be the third and largest to employ the Alpha production technology developed by subsidiary Lucite. The company earlier in March this year announced its intent to build the plant.
The main application, consuming approximately 75% MMA, is in the production of polymethyl methacrylate acrylic plastics (PMMA). Methyl methacrylate is also used to produce methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer (MBS), used as a modifier for polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PVC production reached 259,400 tonnes in the first three months of 2021, down by 3% year on year. All producers reduced their output over the stated period.
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