On October 22, JFE Steel, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical, and Mitsubishi Chemical announced
that in September 2026 they began demonstrating a supply chain
at the Mizushima Industrial Complex in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture,
that produces methanol from by-product gas from the steelmaking process
and then converts it into propylene.
The initiative links facilities across different industries
to use carbon as a chemical feedstock.
The Demonstration: Linking Steelmaking, Methanol, and Propylene Production
The demonstration is based on a plan the three companies announced in March 2025.
JFE Steel supplies by-product gas generated by the steelmaking process,
and Mitsubishi Gas Chemical produces methanol
at a demonstration plant newly built at its Mizushima Plant.
Mitsubishi Chemical uses that methanol as a feedstock
to produce propylene at its existing demonstration facility (DTP process).
DTP is a registered trademark of JGC Global.
Mitsubishi Gas Chemical is promoting “Carbopath,”
a platform for recycling carbon via methanol.
The new facility in Mizushima handles methanol production in this initiative.
What Was Confirmed: Quality Equivalent to Conventional Products at a 100-Ton-per-Year Scale
According to Mitsubishi Gas Chemical, operation since September has confirmed
that by directly reacting by-product gas from the steelmaking process with hydrogen,
methanol of quality equivalent to conventional products
can be produced at a scale of 100 tons per year.
Going forward, the company will accumulate operating data
and apply it to commercial-scale facilities.
The company describes methanol as a basic substance
that can be made from a variety of feedstocks and is used in a wide range of applications.
It expects methanol to complement naphtha-dependent supply chains
for basic chemicals and to play a role as a next-generation fuel.
Facility Features: A Demonstration Plant Designed for Relocation and Remote Support
The new facility was designed and built as a relocatable mobile plant.
In the future, the company plans to move it to locations across Japan
for production demonstrations using a variety of feedstocks,
and for supply chain demonstrations that include where the methanol is used.
For operation at new locations, automatic start-up and shutdown functions
have also been implemented.
In addition, the facility is monitored and operations are supported
from a remote technical support room at the Niigata Plant.
The company aims to reduce on-site operating labor through this setup,
and plans to extend remote support in the future to customers
who adopt its methanol production process.
The facility has been selected for a subsidy program of the Agency for Natural Resources
and Energy, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry,
in each of fiscal years 2024, 2025, and 2026.
It has also been certified for Kurashiki City’s capital investment promotion incentive
and is scheduled to receive support over the next two years.
Next Steps: Verifying Economics and Expanding Regional Collaboration
The three companies will continue the demonstration,
verify its economics, and identify and examine challenges for commercialization.
They will also consider expanding collaboration
with other companies in the Mizushima Industrial Complex
toward achieving carbon neutrality across the region.
This is an announcement of the start of the demonstration and production status,
not a decision to commercialize at a commercial scale.
LC Signal’s Perspective: Connecting Facilities That Make Feedstock with Facilities That Use It
In Mizushima, the three companies’ facilities link everything
from supplying by-product gas to producing methanol and propylene.
By also preparing a relocatable facility,
they plan to test combinations of feedstocks and end uses in other regions.
Having confirmed that production is possible,
the effort is moving to the stage of checking whether the supply system works,
including its economics.
Key Sources
-
Joint announcement by JFE Steel, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical, and Mitsubishi Chemical
(Japanese), October 22, 2026:
水島コンビナートにおける炭素循環社会の実現に向けたサプライチェーン実証実験の開始について
～製鉄プロセス副生ガスからメタノール、プロピレン製造までを実証～
(Start of a supply chain demonstration toward a carbon-recycling society
at the Mizushima Industrial Complex:
Demonstrating production from steelmaking by-product gas to methanol and propylene) -
Mitsubishi Gas Chemical official announcement (Japanese), October 22, 2026:
産業由来のガスおよびCO2を原料とするメタノール製造実証設備の運転開始について
(Start of operation of a demonstration facility for producing methanol
from industrial gases and CO2)
This article was prepared with AI assistance using publicly available information
as of October 23, 2026.
Announcement dates follow the dates shown on the official pages.
What was confirmed in the demonstration is distinguished
from plans for commercial-scale application and expansion to other regions.
“LC Signal’s Perspective” reflects this publication’s interpretation
of the available information.