A World Where Plastics Can Be Made Without Oil

Our company endorses April Dream, a project aiming to make April 1st a day for announcing dreams. This press release represents iPEACE223's dream.

Plastics from sugarcane, not petroleum. iPEACE223 envisions a "society free from fossil fuel dependence."

The dream championed by iPEACE223 Inc. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo) is to greenify the raw materials for fuels and chemicals, liberating the world from fossil resource dependence. Specifically, we aim to establish technology for producing plastics, essential to our daily lives, from bioethanol derived from sugarcane and other sources, rather than petroleum.

The Background of the Dream — "Everyday Plastics" as a Symbol of Petroleum Common plastics such as polyethylene and polypropylene, which are ubiquitous in our daily lives, are made from ethylene and propylene, which are produced by cracking naphtha derived from crude oil in large crackers. However, ・Raw material procurement ・Chemical manufacturing ・Product use ・Incineration The reality is that enormous amounts of CO₂ are emitted throughout the entire supply chain, from procurement to incineration. To achieve carbon neutrality, this fundamental raw material structure must be changed.

iPEACE223's Challenge — Creating "Key Chemicals" from Bioethanol iPEACE223 is a startup founded in 2023. We are developing a bioethylene and biopropylene production process using bioethanol as a raw material. The biochemicals produced by this technology offer: ● Over 80% CO₂ reduction compared to petroleum-derived counterparts ● Innovativeness capable of replacing existing naphtha crackers This "raw material conversion" is a leading candidate for achieving carbon neutrality. Globally, over 100 million tons of bioethanol are produced annually, with approximately 90% consumed as a gasoline additive. Compared to ethylene and propylene derived from naphtha, propylene produced from bioethanol is currently expected to have a slightly higher production cost. However, if this manufacturing cost can be reduced to the same level as, or even lower than, fossil resource-derived alternatives, the significant CO₂ reduction effect would rapidly accelerate the shift from fossil resources to bio-based raw materials. We will first promote commercialization using imported ethanol, and in the future, establish manufacturing technology that can compete with petroleum-derived chemicals in terms of cost, thereby accelerating its widespread adoption.

Producing Cheaper Raw Materials from Japanese Land — A New Industry: "Energy Crops" Currently, the main raw materials for bioethanol are food crops such as corn and sugarcane. However, ・Competition with food ・Limitations in growth rate These factors hinder price reduction. Therefore, iPEACE223 asks: "Does it need to be an edible crop?" By applying metabolic engineering and genome editing technologies, ・High productivity ・Short manufacturing process ・"Energy crops" that humans do not eat If the development of such crops progresses, ultra-low-cost bioethanol will become a reality. Furthermore, Japan has vast unused lands that continue to increase due to the decline of agriculture and forestry. By combining Plant factory-type cultivation facilities × Robots × AI in these lands, a new industry of domestic ethanol production can be created.

The Founder's Vision — Towards "Plastics That Can Be Burned" Plastic recycling has its limits. As long as it is derived from fossil resources, it does not lead to a fundamental solution for CO₂ emissions. However, bio-based plastics derived from biomass are materials that exist within the carbon cycle, and to put it extremely, they are "materials that can be burned." Furthermore, biopropane (LPG substitute) obtained by hydrogenation from biopropylene, and raw materials for aviation fuel SAF, can also be applied. In such cases, the amount of hydrogen used could be less than 1/10 of current technologies that synthesize from CO₂ and hydrogen. This even holds the potential to lead to a future where gasoline and nuclear power plants are not needed. Our goal is to establish a "21st-century biomass artificial photosynthesis system" and disseminate new forms of energy and chemical industries from Japan to the world.

"April Dream" is a project by PR TIMES that aims for companies to announce their actual dreams on April 1st, rather than just humorous stories.

Company Overview Company Name: iPEACE223 Inc. R&D Base: 4259 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Room 206, R2B Building, Tokyo Tech Suzukakedai Campus Established: August 1, 2023 Representative Director: Toru Setoyama Business Activities: Development of catalytic processes for producing propylene (chemical raw material) and propane (fuel), etc., from bioethanol, and process design for plants. URL: https://ipeace223.com