Sustainability Topics (Environment)

In July 2024, Nippon Sanso Holdings Corporation became a special partner in the OIST Coral Project, run by the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST). We support coral reef monitoring and conservation efforts that utilize environmental DNA technology and genome analysis. In conjunction with this initiative, Group company Thermos released a vacuum-insulated travel mug featuring an Okinawa-themed design, with a portion of the proceeds donated through Nippon Sanso Holdings Corporation to support this coral reef conservation project. In addition, Taiyo Nippon Sanso, another Group company, is participating as a member of the Team Tyura Sango initiative, contributing to biodiversity conservation and environmental awareness through coral planting activities. As a group, we are working together to conserve coral reefs in Okinawa and around the world, aiming to realize a sustainable future.

For the last five years, Nippon Gases Europe has been using gas-powered vehicles to deliver products in Germany, an effort toward achieving sustainable transport for all of the company’s solutions. In January 2025, Nippon Gases Europe introduced the first hydrogen lorry to the fleet, used for the delivery of dry ice products. This milestone makes Nippon Gases Europe the first company in the industrial gases sector to use this kind of delivery method for their own products. This hydrogen lorry is an emission-free alternative, used daily to transport dry ice from the Bad Hönningen site to customers in the surrounding area. The company expects this new delivery method to save up to 69,000 kilograms of CO₂ in transport operations, compared to conventional diesel lorries. The vehicle features a box body and ventilation shafts, a range of up to 450 kilometers, and can be fully refueled in under 15 minutes.

Taiyo Nippon Sanso has jointly developed a hydrogen-mixed oxygen-enriched burner for use in a new type of cullet* melting furnace with Ohara Inc., with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The developed burner is used for combustion in cullet melting furnaces and allows for flexible control of oxygen concentration and the mixing ratio of natural gas and hydrogen. In tests using a simulated cullet melting furnace, three oxygen concentrations (25%, 30%, and 40%) and three hydrogen co-firing ratios (10%, 20%, and 30%) were evaluated. All test conditions achieved a GHG emissions reduction of 29% to 62% compared to conventional air burners (see Figure 1 for details). The burner demonstrated heating performance equivalent to conventional air burners (in terms of temperature ramp-up and heat uniformity), while the NOx concentration in the exhaust gas remained below the regulatory limit.
The company will continue advancing the development of oxygen combustion technologies for application in various industrial furnace processes, as part of its ongoing efforts toward carbon neutrality.

* Cullet refers to finely crushed glass fragments.

Taiyo Nippon Sanso has developed a converted gas generation process for heat treatment furnaces utilizing oxy‑fuel combustion* technology.
Conventional technology employed hydrocarbon gases—such as LPG or city gas—as well as air and a nickel catalyst, requiring substantial electric power consumption for heating. By leveraging its long‑cultivated oxy‑fuel combustion technology, the Company developed a process that supplies the heat required for the catalytic reaction through combustion of combustible gas with oxygen, enabling significant energy savings and achieving an 80 % reduction in CO₂ emissions. The company is advancing practical evaluations of this process technology for heat treatment furnace users, particularly in carburizing, annealing, and sintering applications, with the aim of commercialization at an early stage.

* Oxy‑fuel combustion refers to combustion using oxygen or oxygen‑enriched gas as the oxidizer.

Converted gas generation process for heat treatment furnaces using oxy-fuel combustion technology

Taiyo Nippon Sanso, together with Nippon Gases Euro‑Holding S.L.U., implemented the Innova‑Jet^® Forehearth oxy‑fuel burner in a customer’s forehearth* production facility in Europe, and conducted a demonstration test. By reducing the number of burners from 12 conventional air‑fuel burners to four Innova‑Jet^® Forehearth burners, the test demonstrated that the forehearth could be heated uniformly, with no anomalies such as localized overheating, and that fuel consumption was reduced by 65 % compared to conventional burners. The company will continue to advance the development of oxy‑fuel combustion technology for application across a variety of industrial furnace processes, including glass manufacturing, to reduce CO₂ emissions and contribute to the realization of a carbon‑neutral society.

* A forehearth is a long, tunnel‑shaped channel that distributes molten glass from a glass melting furnace to molding machines, such as those for bottles or fibers, Forehearths must maintain a uniformly high temperature to keep the glass in a molten state.

In April 2024, Taiyo Nippon Sanso commenced sales of the Blisters Burner H₂, an exhaust gas treatment system for the semiconductor industry that uses hydrogen (H₂) gas as fuel, emitting no fuel‑derived GHGs. The burner is designed to enable effective contact and mixing between the hydrogen flame and the process gas, enabling energy savings of 30% to 50% in PFC* abatement compared to traditional combustion methods using fossil fuels. Another key feature is that this unit is structurally designed to allow conversion from an existing fossil fuel Blisters Burner^® to the H₂‑fuel configuration with only minor modifications, in anticipation of rising demand for H₂ fuel.
The company will continue to develop and sell optimally designed exhaust gas treatment systems in line with evolving global initiatives for carbon neutrality.

* PFCs refer to perfluorocarbons, compounds in which carbon and fluorine are bonded together.

Appearance of Blisters Burner H₂

A member of the Taiyo Nippon Sanso Group, Nippon Ekitan Corporation has, as of June 1, 2024, switched over its entire supply of electricity used at its Ube Plant (Ube City, Yamaguchi Prefecture), which manufactures liquefied carbon dioxide and dry ice, to CO₂-free electricity* supplied by The Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc. This will reduce annual CO₂ emissions from electricity use by approximately 7,200 tonnes.
The Ube Plant produces liquefied carbon dioxide and dry ice using by-product gas generated during ammonia production at a company nearby. Following this change, products from the Ube Plant will be manufactured using both recovered by-product feedstock and CO₂-free electricity.

* CO₂-free electricity refers to power derived from renewable energy sources, such as hydro and solar power, that emit no CO₂ during generation.

In April 2025, a cutting-edge MATHESON air separation unit (ASU) facility called Penwell began operations in Penwell, Texas. The Penwell ASU is designed to provide vital oxygen and clean dry air (CDA) to a world-first direct air capture (DAC) facility developed by 1PointFive. This DAC facility will capture and remove CO₂ directly from the atmosphere and safely store it underground nearby, contributing to the achievement of the international target of keeping the global rise in temperature to within 1.5℃. The ASU’s oxygen supply is critical to efficient chemical reactions in the DAC system, enabling the pull of CO₂ from the air and storing it forever. The DAC facility and the ASU will be powered by 100% renewable energy from a large, nearby solar panel field. When this technology is proven successful, 1PointFive and others will aim to build DAC hubs consisting of multiple units around the world, allowing MATHESON to grow and create opportunities for us to construct more ASUs.

Extensive efforts have been made to effectively utilize water resources at the ASU plants in Lillo, Lommel, and Zwijndrecht in Belgium, because ASUs consume large amounts of water in their cooling process, making it important to consider their impact on the environment. In Lillo, a system was implemented to recover condensate from the air compressor and pipe it to the cooling tower, saving up to 20,000 m³ of drinking water annually. In Lommel, situated beside a canal, approximately 50,000 m³ of canal water is utilized for the cooling tower. A project to recover condensate from the air compressor and rainwater saves an estimated 2% of the canal water. In Zwijndrecht, reusing condensate from BLAC, with a recuperation rate of approximately 20 m³/day, aims to reduce make-up water consumption for the cooling tower. Additionally, rainwater recovery from the old cooling water basin has led to an average of 263 m³ of rainwater being recuperated per week.
These initiatives collectively highlight the ongoing efforts to optimize water usage and enhance sustainability in industrial operations, demonstrating a commitment to reducing environmental impact.

Suttons Tankers and Nippon Gases UK Ltd have embarked on a three-month hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) trial. This collaboration aims to reduce carbon emissions within logistics operations. As a part of their long partnership, the first month of the trial has already resulted in an emission reduction of 87 tonnes, a promising outcome. This trial will explore the long-term benefits of HVO fuel with the aim of contributing to a carbon neutral sustainable future.