January 27, 2026 14:55

Asahi Kasei, Mitsui Chemicals and Mitsubishi Chemical plan to more than halve Japan’s ethylene cracking capacity by 2030 as part of a restructuring and decarbonization initiative backed by the government.

The three producers aim to reduce capacity from 951,000 tonnes per year to 455,000 tonnes per year under a plan included in METI’s “Fiscal 2025 Support Program for Energy and Manufacturing Process Conversion in Hard-to-Abate Industries”.

The companies will set up a new joint venture to operate two ethylene crackers. The Asahi Kasei Mitsubishi Chemical Ethylene (AMEC) cracker in Mizushima, Okayama Prefecture, is scheduled to close by 2030, while production will be consolidated at the Osaka Petrochemical Industries (OPC) site in Takaishi, which is to be modernized.

Alongside capacity rationalization, Asahi Kasei plans to build a new facility at its Mizushima Works to produce ethylene, propylene and other basic chemicals from bioethanol using its proprietary Revolefin technology. Commercial production of decarbonized chemicals is targeted for 2034.

Revolefin technology enables the production of basic chemicals including ethylene, propylene, C4s and aromatics from bioethanol rather than fossil feedstocks, using a catalytic process that can also be applied at existing plants.

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