Water-soluble industrial processing fluids are used in all manufacturing industries, including cleaning fluids, high-frequency hardening fluids, cutting fluids, and polishing fluids.

Water-soluble industrial processing fluids are used in all manufacturing industries, including cleaning fluids, high-frequency hardening fluids, cutting fluids, and polishing fluids.
The amount of these used waste liquids amounts to approximately 2.6 million tons per year nationwide, and their treatment has emerged as a major issue.
Currently, incineration is the main method of liquid waste treatment, but incinerating liquid waste containing phosphorus and chlorine may generate dioxins, and at the same time, companies are accelerating their efforts to achieve zero emissions.
In the early 1980s, Zeotech Corporation put its water-soluble liquid waste recycling technology to practical use, and has been engaged in the manufacture and sale of equipment.
Last year, the company began offering on-site liquid waste recycling services.
Under the slogan of "from manufacturing to service," Zeotech is now on the verge of rapid growth.
The company's core technology is its proprietary charged coagulation filtration.
The provisional period of the Law Concerning Special Measures against Dioxins will end in December 2002, but it is said that about 70% of incinerators will not be able to meet the standards.
Those companies that have difficulty investing in equipment will be forced to change or close their businesses, and the cost of treating liquid waste that has nowhere else to go will soar.
This will be a tailwind for the spread of our waste liquid recycling technology," says Masahito Inoue, President of Zeotech.
Zeotech started out in the petroleum sales business, but the oil crisis and other factors prompted the company to develop a business analyzing the properties of various types of liquids.
In the process, the company realized that waste liquids could be reused as long as impurities were removed.
In the 1970s, industrial processing fluids were shifting from oil-based to water-soluble, which had been the mainstream, and the technology for recycling water-soluble waste fluids had not yet been established.
It took eight years to complete the process. The company has patents in Japan, the EU, and the US.
The company's water-soluble wastewater reclamation technology is a "charged coagulation filtration method" in which impurities in the liquid, such as emulsion oil and SS (solid waste), are coagulated and coarsened by applying a low AC voltage to the wastewater, which is then filtered through a hollow fiber membrane.
The water-soluble liquid waste from which impurities have been removed by this method can be reused as if it were new, reducing both the cost of treating the waste liquid and the cost of purchasing new liquid.
Nevertheless, the company struggled when it first commercialized the recycling equipment.
This was because corporate awareness of the environment had not yet risen, and because few companies were willing to recycle and use processing fluid during the bubble period.
In the 1990s, however, inquiries from major automakers such as Toyota Motor Corporation led to the widespread use of the system.
Toyota alone has adopted 3,500 units at its manufacturing bases in Japan and overseas.
The number of units installed to date, mainly by automobile manufacturers, has reached approximately 5,000 units.
The water-soluble industrial processing fluid is used in all manufacturing industries, but the percentage of waste fluid recycled in Japan has not yet reached 10%, leaving ample room for growth.
On the other hand, the economic downturn has made it difficult for companies to invest in new facilities.
In addition to the environmental management practices being promoted by various companies, it is difficult to tap into latent demand despite the strong tailwind from the PRTR Law, the Law Concerning Special Measures against Dioxins, and the Law for the Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources.
This is why we came up with the idea of offering on-site water-soluble liquid waste reclamation services.
It can be said that the company has abandoned the "wait-and-see" attitude of waiting for the economy to recover and opted for a new change in business model, from manufacturing to service.
When we asked ourselves what our customers wanted, we came to the conclusion that it was not equipment, but service.
In fact, there were many inquiries for the equipment, even though we had not yet introduced it, and we felt a strong need for water-soluble liquid waste reclamation treatment," says President Inoue.
When we came up with the idea, it was still in the idea stage.
He sought assistance from the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency's Venture Support Center, which designated him as a company certified to dispatch experts, and dispatched experts in business plan preparation, marketing, and fundraising to help him develop a business plan.
In January 2002, with the help of outside personnel, the company launched a "mobile recycling service" that uses a vehicle equipped with a recycling device to visit factories to recycle water-soluble liquid waste.
The "Mobile Recycler," a vehicle developed by the company prior to the launch of the service, has a processing capacity of 1,000 to 1,500 liters per hour of alkaline cleaning solution.
A leased tank for storing 3-5 tons of liquid waste is placed at the discharge site, and when the tank is full, the mobile recycler goes to the site to treat the liquid waste, and the recycled liquid is stored in a reclamation tank.
The treatment price is set at about 80 yen per liter, depending on the type of water-soluble liquid waste.
The cost of incinerating water-soluble wastewater is conventionally about 40 yen, but the introduction of the service is expected to reduce costs by 30% overall, taking into account the reduction in the cost of new liquid aeration.
Currently, the company provides this service to Toyota Motor Corporation and others, with eight units in operation in the Nagoya area.
In July of the same year, the company began franchising its water-soluble liquid waste recycling business, the first of its kind in the world.
In July of the same year, the company began franchising its water-soluble liquid waste reclamation business, the first franchise of its kind in the world, and a business model patent has been applied for.
At first, we thought of increasing the number of units one by one, but there is a limit to what we can do on our own.
In developing the franchise, we decided to establish a franchise with Nagase Sangyo, a major chemical trading company with which we have had dealings for some time in the sale of equipment. In January 2002, the company entered into a capital tie-up with Nagase, a major chemical trading company with which it had long done business in equipment sales.
In January 2002, the company formed a capital alliance with Nagase, a major chemical products trading company with which it had previously dealt in equipment sales.
Each vehicle is equipped with a measuring device that automatically sends data on throughput to the head office's management system.
Member stores receive a profit from their revenue minus vehicle leasing costs and other expenses.
More than 130 companies have responded to the first round of applications for franchisees, and the company plans to sign contracts with about 25 companies.
The company plans to recruit a second round of franchisees at the beginning of the new year.
In addition to the domestic market, the company also believes that there is a need for liquid waste reclamation by local companies in the Asian region, and plans to expand the franchise in the same way as it has done in Japan.
The company plans to establish franchise headquarters at Nagase's sales bases in South Korea, China, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore, and build a sales network.
In Japan, Nagase plans to eventually deploy 40 vehicles in Kanagawa and Tokyo, where there is a high concentration of offices, and 10 vehicles in each of the other prefectures over the next seven years.
This system will be capable of treating 300,000 tons of the 2.6 million tons of liquid waste discharged in Japan, and the market size is expected to be 20 billion yen.
In March of this year, the company received investments from Asahi Fire & Marine Insurance, Ichinen, and in May from SMBC Capital, increasing its capital to 250 million yen.
President Inoue plans to take the company public in a few years.
The company's shift in thinking from manufacturing to service is about to give it the strength to make a giant leap forward.