Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) and Jera have signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at building a carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) value chain at Yokosuka Thermal Power Station in Yokosuka-city, Japan. They will conduct demonstration testing using KHI’s carbon capture equipment at the plant.

Jera, under its Jera Zero CO₂ Emissions 2050 initiative, is expanding its use of renewable energy and working to develop zero-emissions thermal power as it aims to achieve net-zero CO₂ emissions by 2050. In domestic coal-fired thermal power, at Hekinan Thermal Power Station Unit 4 in Japan, it conducted the world’s first demonstration testing of 20% substitution of fuel ammonia at a large-scale commercial coal-fired thermal power plant.

KHI has developed Kawasaki CO2 Capture (KCC) technology that uses a solid sorbent to absorb the CO₂ in exhaust gases and then capture it through the introduction of low-temperature (60°C) steam. By utilizing waste heat from power plants or industrial plants to generate steam, the KCC process reduces the cost of CO₂ capture. Initially developed as a technology for removing CO₂ from exhaled breath in enclosed spaces, KHI began conducting tests of its application to the removal of CO₂ from exhaust gases. The company has conducted multiple demonstration tests of CO₂ capture from exhaust gases at coal-fired thermal power plants.