Bando Chemical Industries Ltd. (TYO:5195) and Tosoh Corp. (TYO:4042) have been selected to receive backing for a joint project of theirs from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). This comes as part of a NEDO initiative to develop cellulose nanofiber (CNF)-related technology capable of helping to achieve a carbon-recycling society. Set to run over fiscal 2020–2024, the...
Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5101) has carried out joint R&D efforts with two academic partners to develop a catalyst system with the world’s highest productivity for creating butadiene from bioethanol. The company has then also been successful at using this butadiene in the synthesis of butadiene rubber. For its research here, Yokohama Rubber worked with the National Institute of Advanced...
Golf equipment maker Kasco Corp. has announced that it will next April release a new golf ball made using eucommia elastomer. The ball, branded the Biospin, will be a high-end product with a suggested retail price of 1,000 yen ($8.88) per ball. The cover material is made with trans-1,4-polyisoprene, an inedible biomass produced by the Eucommia ulmoides tree – also...
Toyoda Gosei Co. Ltd. (TYO:7282) and Advanced Softmaterials Inc. have concluded an exclusive licensing agreement for the use and sales of Slide-Ring Material, a key material for e-Rubber. The agreement is limited to applications of the material in dielectric actuators and dielectric sensors. Advanced Softmaterials, which was established in 2005 with the aim of commercializing the Slide-Ring Material developed at...
Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5101) will soon begin sales of ibar HG82, a new high-pressure hydrogen gas hose developed in cooperation with Iwatani Corp. (TYO:8088). The new hydrogen dispenser hose is to be used for filling fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) with hydrogen. The hose is compatible for use in hydrogen gas filling stations complying with recent regulatory changes that approved...
Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Development Organization (NEDO) plans to begin innovative efforts to develop biotechnologies that will help Japan free itself from dependence on foreign technologies. The effort is aimed at developing national technologies for genome editing, as well as Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence, which can be applied to the production of industrial materials from plants and microorganisms,...
