Pilot plant to turn waste plastics into light oil in Kobe, Japan.

BEIJING, Aug. 3 -- Osaka-based U.F.O. Group is moving ahead with its plan to build a pilot plant in China to process waste plastics into light oil products, reflecting its corporate strategy to diversify its business to clean energy sector, a company official said.

    U. F.O., short for Universal Factory of Operation, has bought a piece of land covering 150 mu in Songjiang county of Shanghai for building the plant to produce light oil products such as gasoline with waste plastics. 

   The company President Kinuko Tani said her company is keen to develop projects with high technology in China and it could start with such a project. She declined to give details of the plant, but said it is still at planning stage.

    Developed by Dr. Taishi Kurata, the president of Nihon Quantum Wave Science Research Institute Co., the technology, which involves quantum physiochemical reaction, is superior to the conventional expertise in a way that it can treat all kinds of waste plastics, be it polypropylene or polyethylene, and achieve higher oil recovery rate at a lower cost.

    The production cost of gasoline using the new technology is 10% that of the conventional technology, said Kurata, without elaborating.

    Kurata said his technology is geared for producing light distillates, as compared with heavy oil produced by conventional technology.

    Japan's Kansai Urban Banking Corp. and U.F.O. have financed the construction of a pilot plant at Kurata's institute in Kobe city for trial production.

    The Kobe facility has a capacity of producing 530 barrels of gasoline per day, according to Kurata.

    U.F.O., with its main business in garment manufacturing in China, is the only authorized Japanese entity to promote the technology in the country, Tani said, adding she hopes U.F.O.'s efforts could provide an environmental-friendly alternative for China to raise its energy supply at an affordable price. Enditem