Denka completes €30m upgrade at chloroprene rubber plant

Tokyo – Japanese materials supplier Denka Co. has completed the installation of high-efficiency gas turbine power generator at its chloroprene rubber production plant in Omi, western Japan, the company has announced.

The Yen4 billion (€32 million) investment includes the replacement of thermal power generation facilities, leading to a reduction of at least 16 kilotonnes of CO2 emissions annually, Denka said in a 29 Oct statement. 

The project will improve the efficiency of power generation at the plant by 25%, reducing fuel consumption by 8,000 Kl per year (crude oil equivalent), Denka added.

Denka announced the launch of a similar project at its key production plat in Chiba, Japan earlier in August, with the aim to reduce 12 kilotonnes of CO2 emissions annually across the two sites.

The upgrades, it said, aim to achieve a medium-term target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 26% by 2030, compared to the 2013 baseline. 

The emission cuts, according to Denka, will contribute to the cutting of approximately 6% of the company’s total reduction targets in the medium-term.

The Omi plant, in Itoigawa-shi, Niigata, mainly produces chloroprene rubber, poval, carbide, calcium cyanamide (lime nitrogen), alumina fibre and cement, and employs approximately 1,000 people.