Let's make our planet smarter
DISCOVER MORE
Clarifying Purpose
What’s Next for
Our Planet?
What's next for our planet?
Let's make it smarter.
Industrial Automation to Industrial Autonomy
Similarly, mankind’s output of inanimate objects now surpasses the total weight of living things. According to a 2020 study from the Weizmann institute, our buildings and infrastructure weighs more than all trees and shrubs on earth. By dry weight, the amount of plastic in this world is double that of animals. And in one year, we produce an estimated 30Gt of “anthropogenic mass” such as asphalt, metals, gravel, plastic and other materials. That is roughly equivalent to adding the weight of all mankind every week to the planet!
These dizzying statistics of the Anthropocene era – where humanity alters the planet’s climate, ecology, and even geology – are only set to accelerate as the world becomes more crowded and wealthier. The global population is expected to reach some 9 billion people by 2030; a third of these will be new middle-class consumers whose demands will need to be met by more energy and material use.
Plants account for some 80% of the planet’s biomass, according to a 2018 study by the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
In contrast, humans represent a mere 0.0001%. Despite being only a miniscule fraction of all living things, we are increasingly overwhelming nature’s cycles.
Take climate change. According to Salk Institute of Biological Studies, plants “breath in” around 746 gigatons (Gt) of carbon dioxide, fixing them into organic material each year through photosynthesis, while emitting 727Gt through decomposition.
Yet human economic activity generates 37Gt of carbon dioxide
per year, resulting in an excess of CO in the air which is rapidly heating up our planet.
What’s Next for
Our Planet?
Even with an end in sight for the Covid-19 pandemic, global boardrooms must not forgo a rare opportunity to “build back better.” One way to rebuild more sustainably is to graduate from a linear take-make-waste model to a circular economy model where waste is reused over and over. To achieve such a circular world, industries must achieve higher levels of automation and collaboration, while adopting new clean technologies. Yokogawa, the Japanese leader of automation technologies, is committed to these three goals and hopes to guide industry towards a higher stage of automation, or what it envisions as a symbiotic economy. This article explores why such symbiotic economy is necessary and how Yokogawa can lead us there.
Masses of
humanity
What’s Next for
Our Planet?
Helping the planet breathe better
FIND OUT MORE
FIND OUT MORE
Yokogawa's clean technologies
and biological materials
Human economic activity generates
37
gigatons
of carbon dioxide per year.
gigatons
30
And in one year,
we produce an estimated
of “anthropogenic mass”
such as asphalt, metals, gravel, plastic and other materials.
Restoring balance through a circular bioeconomy
“
Moving towards a climate- and nature-positive economy not only means replacing fossil energy with renewable energy, it also means moving to fossil-free materials, substituting carbon-intense products like plastics, concrete, steel and synthetic textiles for lower carbon alternatives.
Justin Adams
Executive Director, Tropical Forest Alliance, World Economic Forum
“The gradual replacement of fossil resources in industrial production and energy supply with renewable biogenic feedstock could pave the way for a more sustainable, resource-efficient economy,” reports a G20 policy brief from 2020 on the bioeconomy.
The report also notes that a circular bioeconomy will help deliver a wide range of key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): food security and nutrition, health and well-being, clean water and sanitation, jobs and prosperity, as well as biodiversity.
Achieving this vision requires the development not only of biobased fuels, but also industrial materials derived from biological materials.
“Moving towards a climate- and nature-positive economy not only means replacing fossil energy with renewable energy, it also means moving to fossil-free materials, substituting carbon-intense products like plastics, concrete, steel and synthetic textiles for lower carbon alternatives,” writes Marc Palahí, Director of the European Forest Institute and Justin Adams, Executive Director of the Tropical Forest Alliance for the World Economic Forum.
“A climate- and nature-positive economy is simply not possible without using a new range of renewable biobased materials that can replace and outperform carbon-intense materials,” the authors argue.
Getting off this unsustainable path will require not just international commitment, but a whole lot of innovative growth.
The first has been secured. In November 2021, negotiators from over 200 countries agreed in the United Nations COP 26 talks in a major climate deal to reduce the use of coal, end fossil-fuel subsidies, and boost climate targets.
"This is the beginning of that 10-year sprint," said John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy to COP 26. "We are in fact closer than we have ever been before to avoiding climate chaos and securing cleaner air, safer water and a healthier planet."
The second part to achieve these elevated “climate ambitions”, however, will require trillions of dollars in investment in clean technologies as well as a fundamental revolution in the intent and design of our economy.
One vision forward, now widely embraced by governments and businesses across the world, is to a shift from the current linear “make-use-dispose” model to a “circular economy”. Such an economy where nothing is wasted is designed to be regenerative of the earth’s natural resources. Producing energy and materials from photosynthetic organisms such as plants and algae will lead to absorption of CO from the atmosphere as these biological materials are grown while reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, doubly decarbonizing our economies.
Although such fossil-free materials are already used for products like PET bottles and wrapping film, stronger and more durable ones which can replace metal and plastics are necessary for wider industrial applications. As usages increase, production costs are expected to fall for such materials. But so far mass production of these alternatives to fossil fuel-based ones have been difficult.
One biological material developed over decades which may now be on the cusp of breakthrough to wider industrial application is the cellulose nano fiber (CNF). Produced by extracting cellulose, which is the main component of plants like trees, the nano-sized fibrous material is light and strong (five times stronger than steel but only a fifth of its weight), biodegradable (not all biomass materials are biodegradable in fact), and highly recyclable.
CNF has a wide range of potential applications, from smartphone cases, car bodies, and aviation parts. Last year, the world’s first car made of nanocellulose was unveiled as a concept car in Japan. Such vehicles made from plant-based material are lighter, thus more fuel-efficient, contributing to decarbonization both in production and in use.
Yokogawa’s biomass materials
%
100
Yokogawa Bio Frontier, to enter the CNF market with
the production and sales of a
plant-derived sulphate esterified cellulose nanofiber (S-CNF™)
The company envisions S-CNF to be used in the chemicals, petrochemicals, automobiles, construction materials, ceramics, textiles, and other material industries as well as for food products, pharmaceuticals, and paper processing. The biological material will have end-applications such as filler for plastic/rubber materials, etc., film and bottle packaging, functional additives for cosmetic products and paints, as well as thickeners and emulsifiers.
Yokogawa Bio Frontier is initially providing samples to prospective customers. The company will subsequently scale up production for the commercial sale of S-CNF to customers in various industries.
For long, Yokogawa had supported such industries with its measuring and control technologies, rather than directly producing materials. Its recent decision to produce S-CNF was taken with hopes to widen applications and expand the CNF market in co-innovation with its longstanding clients and partners, rather than to compete head-on with them.
Through this project, Yokogawa hopes to continue to contribute to the environment and realize a future world, yet unachieved, of plastic-free oceans with biodegradable biobased materials.
Although CNF is being produced industrially by the ton, there have been limited commercial success.
One company which is trying to expand CNF usage is the global technology company Yokogawa. Last year, Yokogawa established a wholly owned subsidiary, Yokogawa Bio Frontier, to enter the CNF market with the production and sales of a 100% plant-derived sulphate esterified cellulose nanofiber (S-CNF™).
Besides being strong, lightweight, resistant to heat, biodegradable, and carbon neutral in production like regular CNF, Yokogawa’s sulphated version has the added quality of being able to be dried into powder form. This lighter and compact powder-form of S-CNF, unlike other CNF products in liquid form, has as its greatest merits the simplification of use and expanded applications. S-CNF concentration levels, and therefore its usages, can be adjusted by adding different amounts of water to the powder form, which also costs significantly less to transport and store. Furthermore, the process employed by Yokogawa Bio Frontier to break down fibers to produce its nanofibers consumes less energy and is therefore less costly than other CNF production processes.
Yokogawa’s
clean technologies
There is considerable progress being made in R&D for the practical use of hydrogen energy and we expect it to play a significant role in achieving a carbon-neutral society.
Hitoshi Nara
President and Chief Executive Officer, Yokogawa Electric Corporation
“There is considerable progress being made in R&D for the practical use of hydrogen energy and we expect it to play a significant role in achieving a carbon-neutral society,” says President Hitoshi Nara. “We are also seeing an increase in plans to transport liquefied hydrogen by ship and regasify it. The processes in question are similar to those that we cover in the LNG supply chain already, so we can make use of our existing expertise and technologies.”
Elsewhere in the field of water management, where Yokogawa is also developing its clean technology solutions, the company is facing growing demand for management systems for water infrastructure and desalination plants .
In 2021, for example, the National Water Company of Senegal chose Yokogawa to construct a water distribution network monitoring system. The planned system using sensors installed to collect flowrate and pressure data around 200 locations in Dakar’s water pipe network will help reduce leakages and ensure the steady supply of safe water to the region.
Yokogawa believes it has both expertise and purpose to contribute to its goals of net-zero emissions, well-being, and a circular economy not just in the field of biological materials but more widely, including domains like energy and water.
To these vital ends, the company hopes to develop and increase its “clean technologies” or what it defines as the “the development and application of new technologies, including biological materials with special properties, to provide solutions which minimize the impact on the global environment”.
In terms of renewable energy, Yokogawa envisions a business combining wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, and battery solutions to optimize power distribution and transmission. Yokogawa will offer its core competencies in control systems which can regulate and monitor entire industrial facilities in an integrated manner to optimize energy use. Microgrids and distributed energy resource management systems will be of particular focus.
Better, bio,
mass production
In the Global Bioeconomy Summit held in 2020, organizers applauded the upward trend in bioeconomy investments and innovation.
"Resource-conserving processes that are oriented towards the cycles of nature are increasingly being integrated into existing industrial structures or form the basis for completely new business concepts,” wrote Professor Christine Lang, co-chairwoman for an organizing council.
Even though progress is being made, more global cooperation and innovations will be needed to drive this vision forward, the summit participants agreed. Yokogawa’s clean technologies and commitment to a circular economy is part of this promising momentum. Together with various stakeholders, the company believes, the world can restore the balance between biomass and prosperity, helping our planet breathe better and making it smarter.
2
2
Clarifying Purpose
What’s Next for
Our Planet?
Clarifying Purpose
What's next for our planet?
Let's make it smarter
Find out more
Let's make our planet smarter
Masses of
humanity
Similarly, mankind’s output of inanimate objects now surpasses the total weight of living things. According to a 2020 study from the Weizmann institute, our buildings and infrastructure weighs more than all trees and shrubs on earth. By dry weight, the amount of plastic in this world is double that of animals. And in one year, we produce an estimated 30Gt of “anthropogenic mass” such as asphalt, metals, gravel, plastic and other materials. That is roughly equivalent to adding the weight of all mankind every week to the planet!
These dizzying statistics of the Anthropocene era – where humanity alters the planet’s climate, ecology, and even geology – are only set to accelerate as the world becomes more crowded and wealthier. The global population is expected to reach some 9 billion people by 2030; a third of these will be new middle-class consumers whose demands will need to be met by more energy and material use.
Plants account for some 80% of the planet’s biomass, according to a 2018 study by the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
In contrast, humans represent a mere 0.0001%. Despite being only a miniscule fraction of all living things, we are increasingly overwhelming nature’s cycles.
Take climate change. According to Salk Institute of Biological Studies, plants “breath in” around 746 gigatons (Gt) of carbon dioxide, fixing them into organic material each year through photosynthesis, while emitting 727Gt through decomposition.
Yet human economic activity generates 37Gt of carbon dioxide
per year, resulting in an excess of CO in the air which is rapidly heating up our planet.
“Moving towards a climate- and nature-positive economy not only means replacing fossil energy with renewable energy, it also means moving to fossil-free materials, substituting carbon-intense products like plastics, concrete, steel and synthetic textiles for lower carbon alternatives,” writes Marc Palahí, Director of the European Forest Institute and Justin Adams, Executive Director of the Tropical Forest Alliance for the World Economic Forum.
“A climate- and nature-positive economy is simply not possible without using a new range of renewable biobased materials that can replace and outperform carbon-intense materials,” the authors argue.
Although such fossil-free materials are already used for products like PET bottles and wrapping film, stronger and more durable ones which can replace metal and plastics are necessary for wider industrial applications. As usages increase, production costs are expected to fall for such materials. But so far mass production of these alternatives to fossil fuel-based ones have been difficult.
One biological material developed over decades which may now be on the cusp of breakthrough to wider industrial application is the cellulose nano fiber (CNF). Produced by extracting cellulose, which is the main component of plants like trees, the nano-sized fibrous material is light and strong (five times stronger than steel but only a fifth of its weight), biodegradable (not all biomass materials are biodegradable in fact), and highly recyclable.
CNF has a wide range of potential applications, from smartphone cases, car bodies, and aviation parts. Last year, the world’s first car made of nanocellulose was unveiled as a concept car in Japan. Such vehicles made from plant-based material are lighter, thus more fuel-efficient, contributing to decarbonization both in production and in use.
FIND OUT MORE
