The Asahi Glass Chiba Plant (AGC Chemicals Company) conducts the electrolysis of brine which serves as the starting point for the chemical chain of basic and fluorinated chemicals. Electrolysis requires a great deal of electricity and steam, and the plant is implementing multilayered initiatives focused on climate change.

Trends in Japan

In September 2009, the Japanese government set a target for reducing the country's greenhouse gas emissions—25% relative to 1990 by 2020—and has since been fostering energy conservation as well as the introduction and expansion of renewable energy and the maintenance of forests which absorb CO₂. The government also mandates companies to conduct measures such as greenhouse gas emission reduction plans and make regular reports based on the Act on the Rational Use of Energy and the Act on Promotion of Global Warming Countermeasures. Moreover in Japan, such acts like the Act on Ensuring the Implementation of Recovery and Destruction of Fluorocarbons concerning Designated Products are enforced to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as the Act on the Protection of the Ozone Layer regulates production of fluorocarbons which is a type of greenhouse gases, etc.

The AGC Chemicals Company's Initiatives

The AGC Chemicals Company is committed to contributing to the creation of a safe, secure, comfortable, and environmentally friendly society through chemistry under its vision "Chemistry for a Blue Planet." This In-house Company provides products that contribute to solving the climate change issue, such as the AFLEX fluoropolymer films for photovoltaic devices and LUMIFLON fluoropolymer for coating. LUMIFLON helps increase the lives of skyscrapers and bridges, thereby contributing to resource conservation and CO₂ emissions reduction. This product was chosen as a coating material for Tokyo Sky Tree, which is the world's tallest free-standing broadcasting tower. Moreover at the Asahi Glass Chiba Plant, used fluorocarbons collected from the market are destroyed and decomposed into fluorites.

Multilayered energy conservation initiatives

The Asahi Glass Chiba Plant is implementing multilayered energy conservation initiatives through improvement of manufacturing processes and a shift in energy use.
As for the manufacturing processes, the plant developed a method to manufacture caustic soda using the ion exchange membrane method in 1975, thereby achieving an approximately 40% reduction in energy use compared with the conventional mercury process. As for the shift in energy use, the plant introduced a highly energy-efficient turbine that uses natural gas, which is abundantly produced in local areas, and as a result has reduced energy consumption by 22,000 kl in crude oil equivalent (with CO₂ emissions reduced by 140,000 tons). In the future, the plant aims to further reduce the environmental impacts of its manufacturing processes through energy recycling, including the introduction of power generation facilities that will use hydrogen gas, a byproduct from the electrolysis process.