■As environmental business commercialization and environmental countermeasures accelerate, plant engineering expertise in environmental matters is increasingly essential. To transform environmental initiatives and countermeasures into actual businesses and plants, various challenges must be overcome, including feasibility studies, plant R&D and design, manufacturing, material procurement, construction, and commissioning.

■As environmental business commercialization and environmental countermeasures accelerate, plant engineering expertise in environmental matters is increasingly essential. To transform environmental initiatives and countermeasures into actual businesses and plants, various challenges must be overcome, including feasibility studies, plant R&D and design, manufacturing, material procurement, construction, and commissioning.
■The growth of environmental businesses and the expansion of environmental countermeasures are driving increased demand for plant engineering with environmental expertise. To translate environmental-related businesses and countermeasures into concrete projects and plants, it is necessary to overcome various challenges including feasibility studies, plant R&D and design, fabrication, material procurement, construction work, and commissioning.
■Engineering by a select few. President Hitoshi Kaji hails from Chiyoda Corporation, one of Japan's top three specialized plant engineering firms. There, he spent 27 years involved in constructing petroleum refining plants and analyzing, evaluating, and commercializing various gasification and melting furnace technologies.
Driven by a desire to apply the expertise cultivated during this time across a broader range of fields, he spun out with fellow engineers in June 2000. After approximately six months of preparation, Energy Environment Design was established. "Our aim is not only to handle large-scale projects worth tens or hundreds of billions of yen, as we have done before, but also to provide consulting services from plant introduction to operation for smaller-scale projects, support the development of technical products, perform process design for facilities, conduct equipment layout design, and even develop our own proprietary technical products," stated President Kaji.
President Kaji stated, "This is largely an untapped area, especially in the energy and environmental fields, where there is a shortage of personnel with the necessary expertise, making it difficult for large engineering firms to cover." True to this vision, the company got off to a strong start. Through an engineer who learned of Kaji's establishment of this concept-driven company, Sanix requested participation in its waste plastic power generation project under consideration for commercialization in Tomakomai.
Sanix had been operating intermediate processing facilities for industrial waste plastics at over a dozen locations nationwide since 1998. To effectively utilize these facilities, they conceived the waste plastic power generation project. However, dedicated plastic incineration for power generation was a world first. This is why Energy Environment Design, possessing expertise in both power generation and waste treatment, was approached.
In this case, we proudly participated as one of the owner's engineering firms throughout the entire process: processing waste plastic into molten fuel, transporting it to the power plant, and generating electricity. We played a central role in project management, from the feasibility study through design, material procurement, construction management, and commissioning.
■Achieving this required balancing investment with required performance, which demands solid technical backing and know-how. Any plant engineering company with expertise in project management, starting with feasibility studies, possesses this. Our advantage lies in additionally having technical know-how in heat transfer and waste treatment," stated President Kaji.
The power plant was completed in June 2002 and began trial operations in August. Despite being newly established, demand for the company's engineering capabilities is growing. This includes participation in the Iwate Prefectural Industrial Technology Center's wood pellet stove development project, aimed at promoting wood biomass utilization. The company's role as a bridge, turning client ideas into concrete solutions, will likely continue to expand.
Research and development of proprietary technology is another pillar. However, from the outset, alongside these consulting services, the company has also advanced its own proprietary technology development and the product development and sales leveraging that technology.
"Engineering-based consulting services, if done well, carry an inherent contradiction: clients absorb the know-how and may no longer require similar work. That's why we're also advancing proprietary technology development as another pillar of our business," stated President Kaji. The company is advancing technology development broadly in two fields: "Energy" and "Environment." In the energy field, it is currently aiming to commercialize a compact heat storage burner unit and a cooking unit.
"Heat storage burners were developed in Europe and the US in the 1990s. They improve thermal efficiency by reusing residual heat from combustion exhaust gases, reducing fuel consumption to less than half of conventional systems. Development in Japan, led primarily by NEDO, has advanced significantly, and Japan is now a top runner in this technology. However, research into miniaturization had been virtually nonexistent," President Kaji explained. ■Therefore, the company embarked on miniaturization.
Receiving development grants from Ota Ward, the company succeeded in miniaturization and cost reduction. This was achieved through ceramic heat storage heat exchange technology, heat radiation plates, and integrating the previously two-unit heat storage burner into a single unit. It can be incorporated as a standard component into existing food processing machinery and is expected to have a wide range of applications. The first unit was already delivered to a major food processing machinery manufacturer this summer.
The company focused on transporting waste plastics. It developed a compression molding device that dissolves the surface while compressing waste plastics. Although priced at about twice that of conventional compression balers, its compression ratio is approximately three times higher, and it eliminates the need for packaging materials. While inquiries exist, orders have not yet been secured, but the company remains hopeful. Additionally, it is researching technology to recover lead components from leaded glass and crystal glass.
This involves adding additives to crushed glass and heating it below 1500°C to vaporize the lead. Research for practical application is scheduled to conclude within 2002. This technology has already attracted attention from manufacturers utilizing lead glass in their products. Balancing this with the equipment sales business is a challenge. The company also handles website creation and software development.
In software, it developed a "Plastic Waste Discharge Data System." Using location and industry data for factories and workplaces nationwide, its proprietary inference engine calculates the amount of plastic waste discharged in a specified region. One unit has already been sold. The company's high development drive—spanning consulting, proprietary R&D, and software development—cannot be fully supported by its small, elite team of just five employees.
The company networks with experienced professionals, including those who have retired but possess substantial expertise, contracting them on a project-by-project basis. This approach enables the mobilization of over 50 personnel. Moving forward, the company aims to focus on selling products utilizing its proprietary technologies. "In terms of business maturity, we consider R&D and commercialization to be two-thirds of the journey. Only when the product is sold does it truly see the light of day. How we sell it going forward is now the major challenge."
Our consulting capabilities, based on advanced engineering technologies specialized in energy and the environment, and our R&D strength in proprietary technologies have already been proven. The challenge now is how to successfully balance our labor-intensive consulting business with equipment sales. The decisive moment for the company is approaching.