Japanese Power Company Testing Use of Scrap Wood

Chubu Electric Power Co. will launch a pilot plant to make methanol from scrap wood, which the company claims to be Japan's first.

The plant, built at one of Chubu Electric's thermal power plant, can treat two tons of scrap wood to make a maximum of 1,000 liters of methanol per day.

The pilot operation, conducted on behalf of the Japanese government-affiliated New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, began earlier this month, is scheduled to continue until this coming November.

The scrap wood to be used at the plant will include driftwood collected from dams for hydraulic power plants, which the company currently incinerates as waste.

Chubu is a Japanese based power company. It is the third largest electric company in the country.