Completion of a CO2 Separation and Capture Demonstration Facility at Kobe Works, Accelerating the Development of CO2 Capture Operations
Nov. 12, 2025
Tokyo, November 12, 2025 - Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. announced it has completed the construction at Kobe Works (Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture) of a commercial-scale demonstration facility for its unique CO2 separation and capture technology, Kawasaki CO2 Capture (KCC).
The facility consists of two units: Direct Air Capture (DAC)*1 (above photo, left) to capture CO2 from the atmosphere, and Post-Combustion Capture (PCC)*2 (right) to capture CO2 from exhaust gas from an in-house power plant at the Works. DAC is used to capture CO2 from the atmosphere, and PCC to reduce CO2 emissions from facilities that use fossil fuels. By demonstrating these facilities, Kawasaki is proceeding with the technical verification necessary for the upgrade and scale up of the KCC technology, and accelerating the development of CO2 capture operations.
Based on an in-house CO2 removal technology developed for submarines and space stations, KCC has been applied to separate and capture CO2 from exhaust gases and the atmosphere. In an energy-saving capture system, a unique amine adsorbent enables the use of a low*3 temperature of 60 °C for CO2 separation*4, and the utilization of unused heat from the Works improves energy efficiency and reduces the burden on the environment.
The features of the new facilities are as follows.
■DAC facility
Features a modular design capable of handling the larger scale applications expected in future, and is among the largest DAC demonstration facilities in Japan.
■PCC facility
Installed to capture low-concentration CO2 exhaust gas emitted from a self-produced high-efficiency gas engine power plant at Kobe Works. This marks the first application of KCC in a distributed natural gas power plant, and further deployment is expected for sources of emissions such as on-site power generation at manufacturing facilities.
Both facilities incorporate expertise obtained through ongoing and completed demonstration projects at coal-fired power stations in Maizuru, Japan*5 and Wyoming, USA.*6
Each technology plays a key role in the International Energy Agency (IEA) “Net Zero by 2050” roadmap—PCC as a technology that provides immediate reductions in emissions by using existing infrastructure, and DAC as a technology essential for responding to residual emissions and realizing negative emissions.
Kawasaki will continue to verify and improve the technology used in the present facilities to capture higher amounts of CO2, and introduce KCC into society to promote decarbonization across regions and industries and contribute to the achievement of international decarbonization targets.
Main details
| Facility | DAC | PCC |
|---|---|---|
| Capture source | Atmosphere | Exhaust gas from gas engine |
| Capture capacity | 100 to 200 ton-CO2/year/module | 360 ton-CO2/year |
| Steam temperature for separation | 60℃ | |
| *1 | DAC: Technology that separates and captures CO2 from the atmosphere. Delivers negative emissions by storing the captured CO2 or fixing it into materials. |
| *2 | PCC: Technology that separates and captures CO2from exhaust gases. |
| *3 | Compared to conventional liquid amine-based CO2 capture processes. |
| *4 | Compared to conventional liquid amine-based CO2 capture processes. |
| *5 | NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) project Operations Underway at Japan’s First Test Facility to use Solid Sorbent for Energy-saving CO2 Separation and Capture from Combustion Exhaust Gases at Coal-Fired Power Plants (October 3, 2023) https://www.khi.co.jp/pressrelease/news_231003-2.pdf  (Japanese)
|
| *6 | Ministry of the Environment project Construction Completed for CO2 Separation and Capture Technology Demonstration Test Facility for Use in Environmental Impact Assessment with Combustion Exhaust Gases at Coal-fired Power Plant in Wyoming, USA (October 11, 2023) https://global.kawasaki.com/news_231011-1e.pdf
|
Related Links
・Installation of a Demonstration Facility for New Low-concentration CO2 Separation and Capture Technology at Kobe Works (July 14, 2025)
https://global.kawasaki.com/en/corp/newsroom/news/detail/?f=20250714_0904
・CO2 Separation and Capture Technologies from Kawasaki Heavy Industries
https://global.kawasaki.com/en/energy/equipment/co2sr/index.html
Contact
If you need more information about our business,
don’t hesitate to contact us.
