Sumitomo signs MOU with KC&A to develop Japanese ethanol market

In Japan, Sumitomo Corporation has signed a memorandum of understanding with KC&A, a Korean chemical/alcohol manufacturing and trading company affiliated with the Korea Alcohol Group, on developing the Japanese market for bioethanol. The two companies will jointly work to expand the applications, and ensure stable supplies, of bioethanol in Japan as a biomass-derived raw material for plastics and fuels that is seeing rapidly growing demand amid efforts to achieve a decarbonized society.

KC&A is the largest bioethanol trader in Asia. The US and Brazil currently account for about 80% of the world’s bioethanol production, but KC&A has 40 tanks in Ulsan, Korea, with a total capacity of approximately 110,000 KL, supplying US and Brazilian bioethanol to the automotive fuel industry and to beverage and industrial markets in Asian countries.

Sumitomo Corporation is working on various projects to decarbonize the chemicals industry, principally through the Green Chemical Business Development Department it established in April 2023. It has positioned bioethanol as the cornerstone of greening and is focusing on expanding bioethanol applications and restructuring its supply chains. In its collaboration with KC&A, Sumitomo Corporation will perform all needed marketing functions and will develop new applications for bio-based plastics as a substitute for petroleum-based plastics as well as eco-friendly alternative energy sources such as SAF. In addition to jointly securing suppliers of low Carbon Intensity bioethanol, Sumitomo Corporation and KC&A are considering jointly investing in storage tanks and other such infrastructure to meet the expected doubling of domestic demand for bioethanol by 2030 driven by new demand. As already announced, the Sumitomo Corporation Group is also pursuing initiatives in support of the commercial production of second-generation ethanol, and the Group through this latest collaboration will simultaneously promote wider use of first-generation ethanol, thereby providing the chemical industry with a broader range of options for achieving carbon neutrality.