NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization), a Japanese national research and development agency, announced on October 19, 2026 that it has adopted a new R&D theme to convert gas produced by thermally decomposing waste into feedstock for chemical products. The project is part of NEDO’s Green Innovation Fund program, which aims to achieve carbon neutrality in the waste sector. The theme is titled “Development of Chemical Recycling Technology for Waste through Gasification Reforming and Chemical Feedstock Production,” and it will be carried out by JFE Engineering Corporation. The project will run for five years, from fiscal year 2026 to fiscal year 2030, with a total budget of approximately ¥11.2 billion, of which NEDO will provide up to ¥7.1 billion in support.
Under previously adopted themes, development has progressed on processing facilities that thermally decompose and gasify waste. This latest theme focuses on refining the synthesis gas produced by such facilities into a form suitable for producing chemical feedstocks such as methanol. To achieve this, the project will develop technology to increase the hydrogen content of the gas and freely adjust the ratio of its main components, as well as technology to remove acidic components and trace impurities. It will also develop technology to link the gasification equipment, the gas conditioning equipment, and the equipment used to manufacture chemical products, enabling them to work together as an integrated system.
In parallel, the project aims to build, at an optimal and large scale, a chemical recycling system that produces chemical feedstock from a wide range of waste—from waste plastics to municipal solid waste—without adding hydrogen from external sources. The goal is to achieve an overall carbon utilization rate of 27% or higher by 2030.
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the waste sector account for about 3% of total emissions both globally and in Japan. In Japan, roughly 80% of these emissions come from the incineration of waste (including simple incineration as well as use for heat recovery or as raw fuel). Even with further progress on the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), thermal treatment such as incineration and pyrolysis remains essential—for reducing the volume of waste sent to landfill, suppressing methane generation from landfills, and properly treating infectious or hazardous waste—and such treatment inevitably generates GHG emissions.
Accordingly, the waste sector project under the Green Innovation Fund program aims to achieve net-zero GHG emissions from waste treatment. It is advancing technology development and demonstration toward realizing a “Carbon Neutral Carbon Circulation Plant (CN-type Carbon Circulation Plant)” that stably and efficiently recovers carbon contained in waste and returns it to industry as a resource. This latest call for proposals was conducted following deliberations by the Working Group on the Promotion of Green Electricity and Related Fields, which led to additions and revisions to the project’s content.
Through this newly adopted theme, NEDO aims to accelerate the early social implementation of waste pyrolysis and gasification processing facilities.
【Press release】New Research Theme Adopted under the Green Innovation Fund Program “Achieving Carbon Neutrality in the Waste and Resource Circulation Sector / Large-Scale Demonstration of High-Efficiency Pyrolysis Treatment Facilities”
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