The project's goal is to repurpose CO2 emissions from the brewery's operations and use them in the beer production line, thereby creating a circular economy.
In a significant move towards industrial sustainability, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has announced a new collaboration agreement with Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and the Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor Corporation (TTL) Jhunan Brewery. The partnership will focus on a demonstration project to capture and repurpose carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted during the brewing process, marking a pivotal step toward a circular economy in the beverage industry.
Under the agreement, the three entities will establish a system at the TTL Jhunan Brewery to capture CO2 from the facility's flue gas. This captured CO2 will then be purified for safe use in the brewery's beer production line, creating a closed-loop system where waste emissions are transformed into a valuable input for manufacturing. The initiative aims to research the technical feasibility and economic viability of this CCU process, with the potential to establish a scalable model for industrial decarbonization.
This new project builds upon a long-standing collaboration between Mitsubishi Electric and ITRI. The two organizations signed a basic agreement on sustainability technologies in April 2024 and have since been actively engaged in research and development of CCU technology. As a result of this prior work, Mitsubishi Electric installed a CO2 capture machine developed by ITRI at its Advanced Technology R&D Center in Japan in June 2025. This facility has been used for demonstrations of capturing CO2 from a gas boiler's flue gas, laying the technical foundation for the new brewery partnership.
The move to a brewery environment represents the next logical step in the research, moving the technology from a controlled R&D setting to an active industrial application. By working directly with a commercial brewery, the partners can address the specific challenges and opportunities associated with capturing and utilizing CO2 in a food-grade environment. The insights gained from this demonstration will be critical for accelerating the research and development of a comprehensive CCU system that handles all aspects of the process, from capture to utilization.
The collaboration reflects a growing global trend of businesses seeking innovative solutions to reduce their carbon footprint and achieve net-zero goals. For TTL Jhunan Brewery, the project offers a direct path to reducing factory emissions, while for Mitsubishi Electric and ITRI, it serves as a high-profile case study to accelerate the commercialization of their CCU technology.
