Seeking New Ways to Reduce CO2 Emissions

Global warming has increased the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events all over the world, seriously damaging lives and properties. Phenomena include unprecedented changes to the climate, drought caused by heat waves, and flooding caused by typhoons and torrential rain. Climate change is an important environmental issue for the Asahi Group, which operates businesses using the gifts of nature.

Based on the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Asahi Group has formulated the Asahi Group Environmental Vision 2050. In addition to the Asahi Carbon Zero decarbonization targets for Scope 1, 2, and 3 in 2040, we have set a goal of Beyond Carbon Neutral as a way to contribute to emissions reductions beyond the value chain and throughout society as a whole. To achieve this, we are actively pursuing a variety of initiatives.

In 2020, as a new model for reducing CO2 emissions, the Asahi Group began demonstration testing of power generation with solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOFCs) using biomethane gas from beer brewery wastewater at the Ibaraki Brewery of Asahi Breweries, Ltd.

SOFC is a power generation device that generates electricity from hydrogen. In addition to hydrogen, city gas is often used, and while SOFCs are known as a means of power generation with high energy conversion efficiency, their effectiveness in reducing CO2 emissions has been limited.

Therefore, the Asahi Group constructed a refining process for removing impurities from biomethane gas obtained from anaerobic wastewater treatment facilities at breweries with the aim of using it in SOFC generation. Using the purified biomethane gas obtained, the Asahi Group tested an experimental SOFC-based generator, jointly developed with Kyushu University.

The Asahi Group began work on this challenge in 1998 but was forced to stop temporarily as fuel cell technology was in its infancy. Later, as technology and research evolved, the Group resumed its work in 2015 to develop a low-cost system for removing the components in biogas that are harmful to fuel cells and succeeded in generating power successively for 10,000 hours in a laboratory in 2019. In light of these results, the system was selected by the Ministry of the Environment as a subsidy recipient, and the Group constructed biomethane facilities and fuel cells at the Ibaraki Brewery.

Test operation of the facilities started in 2020 and resulted in successful power generation from biomethane-gas-powered fuel cells. We have continuously operated these facilities since fall 2021 for a total of approximately 17,008 hours (as of October 2023). Currently we are implementing process improvements to enhance the feasibility of practical applications. In 2023, the Group also exhibited at the COP28 Japan Pavilion organized by the Ministry of the Environment and promoted the new technology for reducing CO2 emissions, “Development of a fuel cell Power Generation using carbon-neutral Biomethane Gas from Wastewater Treatment Process of Brewery”.

Asahi Group will disclose as much information as possible, without obtaining patents, on the biogas purification technology obtained through this demonstration testing and the technology required to install the equipment for greater use in food and other industries.

In addition to this project, as part of our efforts to achieve "Asahi Carbon Zero," we have also introduced a stand-alone hydrogen energy supply system and conducted demonstration tests with a CO2 separation and recovery pilot system. We will continue actively promoting initiatives to address various environmental issues, aiming to leave our nature’s gifts as a legacy for the next generation.