Japan-based chemical company Sumitomo Chemical has begun construction on its pilot plant to develop new process technology to manufacture propylene directly from ethanol.

The development of this propylene manufacturing technology is being financed by the Green Innovation Fund of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization.

The pilot factory is being built at Sumitomo's Chiba Works site in Sodegaura, Japan. The company plans to complete the facility by the first half of 2025, with an aim to employ the technology as quickly as possible thereafter.

Sumitomo previously created a prototype plant at its Chiba Works facility to attempt to make ethylene using ethanol as a raw material while simultaneously attempting to develop a registered new technology to produce propylene using ethanol.

Construction of that pilot facility to produce renewable ethanol-based ethylene was completed last year.

This new method, which produces propylene directly from ethanol, is said to be compact and affordable compared to conventional procedures that entail many intermediates.

Sumitomo will now gather the required data from the pilot facility to potentially scale the process for commercial production, as well as provide samples of polypropylene made from the propylene generated in the plant for consumer review.

The company intends to begin commercial production of this new methodology and licence the technology to other companies by the early 2030s.