Yokogawa Solution Service and Phytochem Products Begin Collaboration for the Utilization of Unused Biomass Resources

Category:
Acquisition or Partnership

Yokogawa Solution Service Corporation and Phytochem Products Inc. announced the signing of an agreement whereby the two companies will collaborate in the development of a technology for the extraction of functional ingredients and biofuel from Unused Biomass Resourcesbyproducts that have been discarded during the vegetable oil production process.

Phytochem Products is a startup company with a unique technology for extracting useful ingredients from vegetable oils using ion-exchange resins. The ion exchange resin method eliminates the need for high-temperature and high-vacuum conditions and thus is a more energy efficient way to extract useful compounds from the byproducts of vegetable oils. This method improves the yield of vitamin E, which is sensitive to heat, and is safer as it uses none of the toxic substances that are normally used in conventional techniques.

Based on its measurement, control, and information technologies, Yokogawa Solution Service provides production control systems, measuring instruments, and other solutions that realize highly efficient and safe operations at all kinds of plants. Under the terms of their agreement, Yokogawa Solution Service and Phytochem Products will use a Phytochem Products bench plant to conduct testing of the technical applicability of sensing and process control in the ion exchange resin method. Leveraging Phytochem's expertise in the use of measurement data in the separation and recovery process, Yokogawa Solution Service will examine methods for the real-time analysis, estimation, and measurement of functional ingredients and make use of Yokogawa's modeling technology for the automation and optimization of the recovery process.

The two companies plan to complete the testing and verification of technology at this bench plant by June 2024. After implementing this technology at a pilot plant, the plan is to begin providing customers licenses for this ion exchange resin process together with the associated measurement and modeling technologies in fiscal year 2026.

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