Press
On April 4th, 2023, CHITOSE Group (hereinafter “CHITOSE”) held the Grand Opening for CHITOSE Carbon Capture Central (hereinafter “C4”), the world’s largest (*1) 5-hectare microalgae production facility, which has been under construction in Sarawak, Malaysia. The Grand Opening was attended by many guests, including dignitaries from the Japanese Government, the Sarawak State Government of Malaysia, and companies and financial institutions participating in the MATSURI project.
C4 was constructed by Chitose Laboratory Corp., a core company of CHITOSE, as a commissioned project (*2) of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (hereinafter “NEDO”).
From left to right: Sarawak state government officials (Tuan Haji Azmi Bin Haji Bujang, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, innovation and Talent Development; Yang Arif Dato Sri Talat Mahmood Bin Abdul Rashid, State Attorney General; YBhg Datu Dr. Muhammad Abdullah Bin Zaidel, Deputy State Secretary, Economic Planning and Development), Katsuhiko Takahashi, Ambassador of Japan to Malaysia; Tomohiro Fujita, Founder & CEO of CHITOSE; Shuji Yumitori, NEDO Executive Director; Takanori Hoshino, Executive Officer & Chief BioEngineer of Chitose Laboratory Corp.
“Despite the many difficulties encountered around the world, the project was able to reach its opening thanks to the extremely professional efforts of all those involved. We at NEDO will continue to support this project and make our utmost efforts to realize a truly sustainable industry, society and life.” — Dr. Shuji Yumitori, NEDO Executive Director
“This project will contribute to solving environmental, energy and food problems in Malaysia, Japan and the rest of the world, and the Embassy will cooperate to ensure that a project of such great significance continues to develop.” — Mr. Katsuhiko Takahashi, Ambassador of Japan to Malaysia
“I am delighted that Sarawak is the first choice for this project. The Government intends to be engaged in this project for a long time and is committed to developing it.” — YBhg Datu Dr. Muhammad Abdullah Bin Zaidel, Deputy State Secretary
From left to right: Shuji Yumitori, NEDO Executive Director; Katsuhiko Takahashi, Ambassador of Japan to Malaysia; YBhg Datu Dr. Muhammad Abdullah Bin Zaidel, Deputy State Secretary, Tomohiro Fujita, Founder & CEO of CHITOSE.
At the end of the Grand Opening, Founder & CEO of CHITOSE, Dr. Fujita declared the opening by his speech, “My sincere appreciation to all the guests who have joined us today and to all the members who have helped us build up to this point. Today, here in Sarawak, we have taken the first step towards changing the world. And this project will continue to expand from here, with a pledge to achieve 2,000 hectares of algae production by 2030, and to become the first business in the world to produce fuel and other products from algae. To those of you who have joined us today, we look forward to your continued support.”
CHITOSE is working towards the development of bio-products and the large-scale production of algae in order to popularize algae products that support people’s lives in society under the project MATSURI, which aims to build a new algae-based industry to replace the petroleum industry. In terms of scaling up, our current target is to expand to 2,000 ha, and funding is currently being raised for this plan.
Having been selected by NEDO’s Green Innovation Fund (*3) as a project of 400M USD scale, the next step is to develop algae production technology on a production scale of 100 ha with a view to both economic rationality and environmental sustainability and to develop a wide range of applications such as chemical products, toiletry, fuels, feeds and foods using microalgal biomass produced directly from CO2 as the raw material.
Through these business activities, CHITOSE will promote the establishment of a global industry originating from Japan based on algae, and contribute to the realization of zero carbon emission by 2050 as advocated by the Japanese government.
Related information
・CHITOSE Group, a leading company of MATSURI project, starts operating the world’s largest microalgae production facility
https://chitose-bio.com/news/5155/
・CHITOSE Group Obtains Funding from Japanese Government(NEDO) for Green Innovation Fund of 400M USD Scale
https://chitose-bio.com/news/5247/
About MATSURI
https://matsuri-partners.chitose-bio.com/en
The MATSURI project aims towards the establishment of an advanced microalgae-based industry. CHITOSE has considerable expertise in large-scale microalgae production technologies, and is leading the MATSURI project collaborating with Japanese progressive enterprises. As what MATSURI means in Japanese, CHITOSE keeps leading a festival to develop a sustainable society.
CHITOSE Group Overview
https://chitose-bio.com/
CHITOSE Group is a family of biotechnology companies leading the global bioeconomy. To live in abundance beyond the next millennium using the ability of living things, CHITOSE pursues the possibilities of biotechnology through technological and business development collaborating with its business partners all over the world.
About CHITOSE BIO EVOLUTION PTE. LTD. (head office that oversees entire Group)
Established in October, 2011
Head Office located in Singapore
CEO: Tomohiro FUJITA, Ph. D.
About CHITOSE Laboratory Corp. (responsible for the project)
Established in November, 2002
Head Office located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
CEO: Tomohiro FUJITA, Ph. D.
COO: Rie KUGIMIYA
