Mitsubishi teams with Mitsui on zeolite membranes for ethanol production

In Japan, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation and Mitsui Zosen Machinery & Service have agreed to form a business tie-up to produce and sell zeolite membranes.

With the goal of entering new markets and expanding sales, MCC will purchase MZM’s entire output of zeolite membranes and hold the sole sales rights in the U.S. and other global markets. Their agreement also provides proposals for new dehydration processes that will draw upon both companies’ technologies.

MZM has produced and marketed A-type zeolite membranes since 1998, and its products have been adopted in over 70 plants. For A-type zeolite membrane’s strong dehydration performance, it has been adopted in industrial alcohol solvent collection systems and bioethanol water-removal processes. MCC successfully developed its unique CHA-type zeolite membranes, which have superior resistance to water and acid. It has been adopted in the solvent collection system developed by Mitsubishi Chemical Engineering Corporation and in Japanese sake concentration, which requires both water resistance and acid resistance.