It was found that methanol and formic acid can be produced from biogas derived from livestock manure by Okoppe Town, Hokkaido and the Leading Interdisciplinary Research Organization of Osaka University, which have a partnership agreement.

 Since being certified as a biomass industrial city in 2013, Okoppe Town has been working on sustainable town development using biomass, and has introduced a biogas plant to effectively utilize the biogas obtained from anaerobic fermentation of biomass. Has been promoted as a town.Among them, biogas derived from livestock manure obtained from dairy farming, which is a key industry, contains about 60% methane gas, so we have been searching for ways to utilize it.

 On the other hand, the group of Osaka University's Leading Interdisciplinary Research Organization succeeded in producing methanol and formic acid from air and methane at room temperature and pressure for the first time in the world in 2018.Focusing on the fact that this technology can also be applied to biogas, the two parties reached a partnership agreement in June 2019.

 After concluding the agreement, the town-run Okoppe Hokuko Biogas Plant has held discussions and tests, and finally announced that it has succeeded in producing methanol and formic acid from methane gas contained in biogas derived from livestock manure.In addition to paving the way for domestic production of methanol, which used to rely on 100% imports, formic acid can be used as an additive in silage production, which is feed for dairy cows, and will contribute to the development of the dairy infrastructure in the town. Expectations are high.

 Okoppe Town and Osaka University are planning to develop mass production technology and aim for early social implementation, and the demonstration of this technology is likely to accelerate the promotion of effective use of biomass.

reference:[Okoppe-cho, Hokkaido] A step toward mass production!The world's first successful production of methanol and formic acid from livestock manure-derived biogas! (PDF)

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