By Junichiro Ngasaki (Asahi Shimbun) The feces and urine of thousands of Hokkaido dairy cows may soon power facilities prefecture-wide with a world-first technology invented in Japan that converts them into environmentally friendly liquid biofuel.
Kei Okubo, an organic photochemistry professor at Osaka University, developed the technology, which produces methanol and formic acid that emits zero carbon dioxide (CO2).
Okubo on Feb. 9 signed an agreement with Kazutoshi Hazama, the mayor of Okoppe, Hokkaido, and other parties to set up a test plant in Okoppe within two years as a new business.
Major industrial gas supplier Air Water Hokkaido Inc. and contractor Iwata Chizaki Inc., both in Sapporo, are also partnering with Okoppe and the university to establish the plant in the town located along the Sea of Okhotsk.