Mitsubishi Electric to Conduct Demonstration Using CO2 Capture Machine Developed by ITRI in Taiwan

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced that it will launch a demonstration of technology to capture CO₂ from flue gas, using a CO₂ capture machine developed by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan and installed at Mitsubishi Electric’s Advanced Technology R&D Center in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture on June 9. The demonstration will last until September 2027.

In April 2024, Mitsubishi Electric and ITRI concluded a basic agreement to cooperate on research targeting sustainability technologies. Since then, they have been engaged in research and development aimed at mitigating climate change through carbon dioxide capture and utilization (CCU) technology. CCU separates and captures CO₂ emitted from power plants and factories and then uses the recovered CO₂ to produce fuel and chemical products.

In the demonstration, Mitsubishi Electric will connect the machine to a steam-generating boiler to test its effectiveness in capturing CO₂ contained in boiler’s flue gas. The machine uses a solid adsorption method, whereby CO₂ is adsorbed onto a solid adsorbent, which is then heated to release and recover the CO₂ before CO₂ reduction and other processes. Conventionally, CO₂ from flue gas has been captured using liquid absorption. In this method, CO₂ is absorbed by an aqueous solution of amine, a chemical substance mainly composed of nitrogen atoms that can absorb CO₂ and release it when heated or decompressed. However, this method requires a large amount of energy to evaporate the aqueous solution, resulting in energy loss. The new solid adsorption method does not use this evaporation process, thereby reducing the energy required to capture CO₂.

In the demonstration, Mitsubishi Electric will also enhance the energy efficiency of its comprehensive CCU system with technologies for advanced system design, advanced system control, and energy management, cultivated over many years in fields such as air conditioning, refrigeration and industrial systems.

Mitsubishi Electric and ITRI will use the results of this demonstration to accelerate research and development with the aim of realizing and deploying an integrated CCU system—from CO₂ capture to utilization—in society at an early stage. Mitsubishi Electric will also combine this knowhow with its Energy & Facility (E&F) solutions to reduce CO₂ emissions at plants and facilities to achieve carbon neutrality.

Going forward, with the goal of realizing sustainability, Mitsubishi Electric will continue to accelerate its “Trade-On” activities to simultaneously address technical issues in modern society and achieve business growth.