Workshop on Carbon Management, Hiroshima

Sub-titled “Dealing with CO₂ Emissions to Approach Net Zero”, this two-day “Workshop on Carbon Management” was organised by the International Centre for Carbon Management (ICSC – celebrating their 50^th anniversary as an IEA TCP) and Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (or NEDO), assisted by IEAGHG. Held in Hiroshima, Japan, from 12‑14 March 2025, the workshop was very well attended, with around 130 domestic and international participants. International participation came from as far afield as Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Germany, Norway, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Domestic attendance was strong, with senior representation from METI, NEDO, RITE, JOGMEC and IEEJ, among others.

The Workshop’s predominant focus was on CCUS and engineered CDR. Sessions included global policies and trends, technology/technical approaches, cross-border CCUS value chains, and carbon recycling. There were country updates from Australia, Canada, UK, the EU, South Africa and, of course, Japan. It was interesting to learn more about Japan’s CCS Business Act (2024), which will regulate both safety and economics of CCUS projects. NEDO has funded the ‘earlier’ work, moving aspects of CCS up the TRL levels. To advance further towards full-scale deployment, JOGMEC has selected nine large-scale project concepts to assess their commercialisation potential. Of these, four will export the CO₂ to other countries, three to Malaysia in partnership with PETRONAS, and one with destination yet to be determined. With Malaysia, this may be the first time that a London Protocol Party will have exported to a non-Party jurisdiction – and we heard about the requirements for doing that, and the role of the carbon markets, including the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (formerly Article 6.4). NEDO are funding trials of a ship to transport CO₂, which will be testing the transportation of CO₂ at different temperatures and pressures.

It was an honour for IEAGHG’s Tim Dixon to present a keynote on CCUS in the global climate scene.

IEAGHG’s Keith Burnard also presented on two of our studies; first, on low-carbon dispatchable power and, secondly, on smaller-scale capture.

In the wrap up Tim noted the international collaborative nature of Japan’s previous RD&D work being undertaken by RITE and the JCCS Corporation, especially with the USA and Australia. He emphasised how this international collaboration was carrying through into JOGMEC’s Advanced CCS Projects and the enabling nature of cross-border projects such as Norway’s Northern Lights. He expressed my hopes and expectations of looking forwards to further collaboration and more cost reductions. ICSC’s Debo Adams also emphasised the importance of international collaboration and the diversification of CCUS project types. IEEJ’s Toshiyuki Sakamoto (Vice-Chair of the IEA’s Committee on Energy Research and Technology), Mai Yaguchi of METI and Carl Greenfield of the IEA also provided closing messages.

On the final day, participants were invited to visit the Osaki Coolgen Project and NEDO’s Carbon Recycling R,D&D Centre. The facilities were located on Osakikamijima island in the Seto Sea, close to Hiroshima, reached by coach and ferry.

The Osaki Coolgen Project is focused on demonstrating low-carbon generation from coal by combining Integrated Coal Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC), Integrated Coal Gasification Fuel Cell Combined Cycle (IGFC) and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). It comprises three steps:

• Oxygen-blown IGCC. This consists of a coal gasification unit, a gas clean-up unit, and a combined cycle unit. The IGCC system can reach a power generation efficiency as high as 40% (HHV).
• CO₂ capture. Here, using shift reactor and CO₂ adsorber, CO₂ is separated from the syngas produced in the gasification unit. The CO₂ captured has 99% purity with a 90% recovery rate. Some of the captured CO₂ is utilised for carbon recycling at the research centre funded by NEDO and some liquefied for CO₂ utilisation, e.g., in agriculture.
• IGFC system. Hydrogen, separated from the syngas in the CO₂ capture process, is incorporated into an IGFC system to further improve efficiency. Two 600 kW fuel cell units (1.2 MW capacity) aims to improve net thermal efficiency to around 47% (HHV), while capturing 90% of the CO₂.

Next, participants visited the NEDO’s RD&D Centre for Carbon Recycling, which located adjacent to Osaki Coolgen plant. The facility’s main goal to reduce CO₂ in the atmosphere by reusing and recycling CO₂ as a resource for materials, fuel and other purposes. The centre opened in September 2022, following METI’s June 2019 policy on “Roadmap for Carbon Recycling” and its September 2019 “3C Initiatives for Carbon Recycling”.

While the facility has many research interests, those visited included CO₂ recycling for:

• Permanent fixing in concrete;
• Production of silicon carbide;
• Production of paraxylene for PET;
• Production of SAF from algae;
• Development of gas-to-lipids bioprocess.

Overall, the Workshop was a very stimulating event. In due course, the presentations will be available in on the website Carbon Management Workshop – ICSC.

Finally, Tim offered congratulations to ICSC for their 50^th anniversary!