• Author ListContributors
  • Newsletter RegistrationNewsletter

Biomass ChemistryBiomass Chemistry

Manufacture of chemicals and fuels from biomass produced from forests, plants, and other biological resources

2.10Tuesday, 2026

Japan was a "Land of Photosynthesis" - A Vision for a Society Supported by Forests and the Sun by 2050

Today, political divisions are deepening, especially in Europe and the United States, and existing values such as democracy and liberalism are being shaken. Against this backdrop, [...]...

2.9Mon 2026

Turning Unused Wood into Energy: Hita City's Woody Biomass Strategy and Implementation of Forest Recycling

About two-thirds of Japan's land area is forested. The forested area amounts to about 25.02 million hectares (as of the end of March 2022), of which [...].

1.30Fri 2026

Strong Cooperation among Leading Players in Industry, Government, and Academia to Fully Utilize Okayama's Forest Resources [Forest Circular Economy Symposium Report, Part 2

*Click here for the first part of the report: "Okayama Model": Transformation to a Resource Self-Sufficient Nation and Urban Wood Construction, Challenged by Industry-Government-Academia [...] Report of the Symposium on Forest Circular Economy [...

12.26Fri 2025

Producing fuel and chemical products from wood and other materials: Learning key commercialization points from leading overseas companies—Forest Circular Economy and Chemical Industry: Corporate Initiatives Toward Practical Application of Biomass Chemistry (1)

Last time, we introduced biomass conversion technologies. This time, we look at companies that are utilizing these conversion technologies and moving toward practical application [...]

12.12Fri 2025

Tokyo Metro Signs First Virtual PPA for Biomass Power Generation in Subway System New Collaborative Model for "Domestic Wood Utilization" via Urban Infrastructure

Tokyo Metro has partnered with Sano Biomass Power Generation, funded by Kansai Electric Power and others, to develop Japan's first subway project utilizing domestically sourced wood biomass.

12.2Tue 2025

Retorting at room temperature to solve the problem of gibier distribution: Toyo Seikan and others challenge a new circulation model for utilization of wild birds and beasts.

Toyo Seikan Group Holdings, in collaboration with Tsuji Culinary School and the Japan Ghibier Promotion Association, has developed a retort pouch that utilizes retort technology to [...]

11.29Sat 2025

Sendai Port Biomass Power Plant, Japan's Largest Dedicated Wood Biomass Facility, Begins Commercial Operation Four Companies from Different Industries Collaborate to Contribute to Regional Renewable Energy Supply and Carbon Neutrality

Sendai Port Biomass Power LLC, jointly funded by Sumitomo Corporation, Tokyo Gas, Hokuriku Electric Power, and Sumitomo Corporation Tohoku, is constructing [...] in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture.

9.30Tue 2025

Forest culture of mutual cooperation taking root in Austria, where wood biomass heat supply is spreading [Heat supply business as a basis for local economic circulation 2].

I heard these words more than once during my business trips to Europe: "I don't have that much money saved and I'll be fine" and "The government will take care of me in my old age." [...].

9.18Thu 2025

Biomass Chemistry Advances to the Practical Stage with Various Conversion Technologies - Forest Circular Economy and Chemical Industry (3)

In the previous issue, we overviewed the characteristics of biomass as a resource. In this issue, we will discuss how biomass resources can be used to produce biochemicals and biofuels [...].

8.29Fri 2025

A Sustainable Model Learned in Austrian Villages for Spreading Heat Energy in Mountain Villages [Heat Supply Business as a Basis for Local Economic Circulation 1: Overview].

Have you ever felt uncomfortable with the use of fossil fuels as a matter of course? Nowadays, electricity and heat energy are generated by coal and [...].

8.27Wed 2025

Carbon-Neutral Salt Production with Wood Biomass Power Generation Nihonkaisui to Start Operations at Sanuki Plant in FY2028

A plan to convert an existing coal-fired power plant to a wood biomass power plant at the Nihonkaisui Sanuki Plant (Sakaide City, Kagawa Prefecture) has been approved by the [...]

8.26Tue 2025

Exploring raw biomass (2) "Softwoods and hardwoods" as different as "sharks and dolphins

Biomass, which lexically refers to the amount of living organisms (bio) (mass), as opposed to fossil resources such as oil and coal [...].

8.22Fri 2025

Paper and paperboard also function as social devices that "store and circulate carbon" [Cultivating the Future through Carbon Cultivation].

The most familiar "mass products of forest origin" around us are probably paper and paperboard. Notepads, newspapers, wrapping paper, [...].

8.18Mon 2025

The key to producing homogeneous polymeric materials from lignin is an interdisciplinary approach between chemistry and biotechnology [Cultivating the future through carbon farming].

Lignin is a major component of woody and herbaceous biomass, along with cellulose, but its non-regular and heterogeneous chemical structure [...].

8.12Tue 2025

Why Japan Needs a "Circular Forest Economy" Now: Resource Self-Sufficiency, Lifelong Growth, and a Resident-Financed Platinum Society

As Chairman of the Platinum Initiative Network and former President of the University of Tokyo, I have long been thinking about the future of Japan. Now, the world [...].

8.4Mon 2025

Establishing Technologies to Utilize Lignin, Key to Realizing a Decarbonized Society: Active Research Utilizing Microbial Metabolism [Cultivating the Future through Carbon Cultivation].

Reducing dependence on oil and securing sustainable material feedstocks are essential to achieving a decarbonized society. To address this challenge [...].

EN