Environment Research and Development
Basic Approach to Research and Development
The Takasago Thermal Engineering Group is united in promoting research and development in line with the following basic policy in order to create spatial environments and continue to lead all environmental innovations on Earth and in space.
Basic Policy on Research and Development
- We provide environmental technologies for all kinds of productivity improvement that add substantial value to society.
- We develop distinctive technologies that contribute to decarbonization in order to protect the global environment.
- We take pride in being engineers, always rising to challenges and advancing ourselves with a sense of fairness and earnestness.
R&D and Business Development Promotion System
Under the development policy of “Connective research and development, connective business development,” our Research and Development Headquarters conducts activities in three divisions: the Research & Development Center, the Carbon Neutral Business Development Division, and the Planning Management Division.
Research and Business Development Themes
We aim to create the future for society and humanity as an Environment-Creator™ with research and business development themes centered on a “three-plus” foundation of “Creating building environments,” “Protecting the global environment,” “Tackling new environmental challenges,” and “Contributing to local environments.”
1. Creating building environments
Provision of energy-saving and energycreating building facilities, environments that ensure health and safety, and environments that improve intellectual and manufacturing productivity
2. Protecting the global environment
Provision of hydrogen-related technologies, CO2 capture, utilization, and fixation technologies, resource recycling technologies, heat and energy control technologies, and GHG reduction systems, etc.
3. Taking on new environmental challenges
Taking on challenges related to matters such as living environments and energy supply facilities on the Moon, in space, and underwater
⇒ Aiming for feedback for terrestrial technology
α. Added value: Contributing to local environments
Implementation of specific measures to make the comprehensive cooperation agreement with Tsukubamirai City more effective, including provision of environmental technology, IC utilization, and educational opportunities
Research and
Development Initiatives
Closed VOC Recovery SystemReceived an Award of Excellence for the 48th Environment Award
The demonstration system
The manufacturing processes of adhesive tape factories and printing plants contain dryers (solvent drying ovens) that evaporate solvents. The dryers emit toluene, ethyl acetate, and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) known to cause photochemical smog and other health hazards that threaten human respiratory systems and mucosa. Although VOCs are disposed of in accordance with laws and regulations, the total amount emitted in Japan in FY2020 was roughly 570,000 tons.
Incineration—the main method for treating VOC emissions—generates large amounts of CO2; in pursuit of preventing global warming and realizing a decarbonized society, VOC treatment methods that do not involve incineration are best.
We have developed a treatment system that not only adsorbs and recovers VOCs without incineration, but also substantially reduces the amount of VOCs released into the atmosphere. In our system, dryer exhaust is treated and then reused for ventilation, creating a closed loop. With no exhaust outlets, our system essentially reduces the amount of VOCs released in the atmosphere to zero.
In FY2020, we launched a demonstration with adhesive tape manufacturer TERAOKA SEISAKUSHO CO., LTD., working with the company to install a demonstration system at one of their active plants. Compared to conventional systems, our demonstration system achieved a 95% reduction in VOC emissions and 78% reduction in CO2 emissions.
Additionally, an evaluation of the impact on the manufacturing environment revealed that creating a closed loop system for ventilation and exhaust eliminated the impact of outside air, enabling the company to maintain a low level of humidity without compromising the product quality they had achieved with their existing system.
In addition to low-boiling solvents such as toluene and ethyl acetate, we are also working to recover high-boiling solvents used to manufacture lithium-ion batteries and all-solid-state batteries.
We will contribute to global environmental conservation by deploying these systems that use non-incineration treatment to simultaneously reduce VOC emissions into the atmosphere and CO2 emissions.
Takasago Thermal Engineering Closed VOC Recovery System vs Conventional System
Adsorbent Thermal Storage System Mega Stock®Received an Award for Excellence in the Industrial Category at the Cogeneration Grand Prize 2021
The industrial sector is faced with the challenge of using waste heat to save more energy and further reduce CO2 emissions. Although high-temperature waste heat is used to generate power, for steam, and toward other ends, most low-temperature waste heat (roughly 100℃) is discarded, unusable due to limited applications and temporal and spatial gaps with heat demand.
To solve this problem, we have developed and are marketing a new large-scale thermal storage system that reuses waste heat and unused heat in air conditioning and heating.
Features of this system
Used repeatedly
Using reaction heat from the absorption and desorption of water to and from adsorbent (heat storage material)
Desorption of water→heat storage
Adsorption of water→heat emission (use of heat)
- The low-temperature waste heat of 80 to 200℃ can be stored.
- The thermal storage density is more than twice that of conventional latent heat storage (over 500 kJ/L)
- The recovered waste heat can be used for air conditioning (heating, outdoor air processing, dehumidification) and hot water supply.
- The heat loss from the stored heat is minimized. (because of the principle of moisture adsorption/desorption reaction)
- The users of the heat can substantially reduce their CO2 emissions.
Our system can be installed in one place or moved around plant facilities, and the waste heat it recovers can be used toward different ends at any time, anywhere on the premises. Effective applications include dehumidification, heating, and drying processes.
The system should eventually come into use as an offline heat recovery, transport, and utilization system to make waste heat from municipal sludge and waste incineration plants, factories, and other sources available for other uses in surrounding areas.
In FY2018 and FY2019, we worked with the city of Hamura in Tokyo Metropolis and five other joint organizations to pilot the system under a project subsidized by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). We established a heat storage system utilizing HASClay, a new high-density heat storage material, to obtain year-round demonstration data for stationary and offline heat transport-type systems, and to demonstrate heat storage with factory waste heat, cogeneration exhaust, and hot wastewater and use of the waste heat on production lines and in consumer facilities.
Thanks to the project, we were cited as an outstanding business entity in both the 2018 NEDO Strategic Innovation Program for Energy Conservation Technologies and the 2020 NEDO Energy Conservation Technology Development Awards. We also received an Award for Excellence in the Industrial Category at the Cogeneration Grand Prize 2021 for “further energy conservation at the plant” and “widespread use of thermal energy in the community” through the use of cogeneration exhaust heat.
Examples of use
Heat transmission in Hamura City areas
(around the Hamura plant of Hino Motors)
Relevant Links
Sustainable Research Facility that Combines Environmental Impact Reduction with Intellectual Productivity ImprovementTakasago Thermal Engineering Innovation Center
Our new center is more than four walls and a roof within which to conduct research—under the name of “sustainable architecture that combines environmental impact reduction with intellectual productivity,” it is a living laboratory for devising measures to save and create energy to contribute to carbon neutrality and test and prove new ideas for comfort.
Environmental Performance of the Building Evaluated
Designed to achieve high environmental performance, the building received a BELS rating of five stars (the highest) and Nearly ZEB certification for its energy-saving performance, and Gold certification under LEED® for overall environmental performance. The center also received the S rank certification of CASBEE Wellness Office for comfort and health.
- The LEED® certification logo, a registered trademark owned by the US Green Building Council, is used under its authorization
Green bonds
Impact reporting
(environmental impact assessment report)
In order to become carbon neutral, the Takasago Thermal Engineering Innovation Center adopts photovoltaic and biomass power generation as renewable energy sources, in addition to various energy-saving methods, and procures green electricity to meet any additional demand for commercial electricity.
| Achievement state of ZEB | FY2021 | Ratio of energy consumption to baseline value(*) | Ratio of energy supply to baseline value(*) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office building | ZEB | 0.35 | 0.91 |
| Site as a whole | Nearly ZEB | 0.20 | 0.17 |
- Baseline value: 1,389 MJ/(㎡ per year) for office building; 3,150MJ (㎡ per year) for site as a whole
Learn about Our Other ESG Initiatives
- Top
- Sustainability
- Environment
- Research and Development