Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries said it has completed one of the country’s largest direct air capture (DAC) demonstration units at its Kobe plant, aiming to accelerate development of technology that removes carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere.
Direct air capture uses chemical processes to pull CO₂ out of ambient air, allowing the captured carbon to be stored or used in products. The technology is seen as a potential tool for achieving net-zero emissions by offsetting hard-to-abate pollution from sectors such as aviation, heavy industry, and shipping.
The 13-metre-tall facility can capture 100 to 200 tonnes of CO₂ a year using a proprietary sorbent that separates the gas at about 60°C, compared with the 100–120°C typically required by liquid absorption systems, the company said in a statement on 12 November.
It added that the lower temperature allows the process to run on factory waste heat, reducing energy use and environmental impact. The company drew on CO₂ removal technologies originally developed for submarines and space stations.
Capturing CO₂ directly from air is more energy-intensive than capturing it from industrial exhaust, with many DAC designs requiring sorbent regeneration at temperatures ranging from about 100°C to several hundred degrees. Energy use is a major cost barrier, and Kawasaki’s low-heat design targets that challenge by regenerating sorbents at around 60°C and tapping industrial waste heat.
Globally, DAC deployment is led by the United States and Europe. The International Energy Agency notes major projects under construction in the US and Iceland, while most Asian countries remain at pilot-scale development. Japan has few commercial-scale DAC projects.
The pilot’s 100–200-tonne-per-year capacity is small by global standards but significant for Japan. Kawasaki aims to scale the system to a commercial unit capable of capturing 500,000 to 1 million tonnes annually by 2030, which would place it among Asia’s largest announced DAC deployments.
Kawasaki expects demand from emerging economies with heavy reliance on fossil fuels, including Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Africa.
The market focus aligns with Japan’s longstanding strategy of exporting industrial equipment and energy technologies to developing countries, as well as its broader push to support decarbonisation in Southeast Asia through technology transfer rather than large-scale domestic DAC rollouts.
“Alongside cutting emissions, separation and capture are indispensable technologies,” Kawasaki’s executive vice president Motohiko Nishimura said during a press briefing. “We will work to create new markets as we move toward a decarbonised society.”
Kawasaki’s move comes as Japan’s heavy-industry sectors such as steel, chemicals and shipping face growing pressure to decarbonise but remain dependent on fossil fuels.
Under the Green Transformation (GX) Plan by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Japan has identified CO2 capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) and carbon-recycling technologies as priority industries for future export growth.
Under its updated energy strategy, Japan aims to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 60 per cent by FY2035 and 73 per cent by FY2040 compared with FY2013 levels, while pursuing all decarbonisation technologies, including CCUS, to achieve net-zero by 2050.
Japan has also set a target of capturing or storing 120–240 million tonnes of CO₂ per year by 2050, and 6–12 million tonnes per year by 2030.