Order Received for Methane Fermentation Facility for Biomass Resources

 Tokyo, March 15, 2006 – Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. today announced that it has received an order from Suzu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, for a methane fermentation facility for biomass resources.This is the first biomass utilization project jointly promoted by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) and the Ministry of the Environment, and is one of MLIT’s designated projects for improving the nation’s sewage systems.

 The facility, to be built in the Suzu City Sewage Treatment Plant, consists of systems for biomass receiving and pretreatment, sludge concentration, methane fermentation, sludge dehydration, sludge drying and others. It is designed to treat 51.5 wet tons/day of mixed biomass resources: sewage sludge, human waste, kitchen waste and raw fish waste discharged from seafood processing. It will utilize the methane gas generated during treatment to heat and dry sewage sludge, which will be used as an organic fertilizer by the city. The facility provides the recycling system of waste material in Suzu City.

 Compared with conventional facilities, in which each biomass resource is treated individually, Kawasaki’s mixed-resource fermentation facility achieves a significant reduction in lifecycle costs and guarantees stable operations without being affected by the quantity or quality of each biomass resource.