TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Sixteen major Japanese firms including Nippon Oil Corp, Toyota Motor Corp and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd plan to develop technology to mass-produce low-cost bioethanol fuel from rice hulls and used construction materials in cooperation with universities and government agencies, the Nikkei reported on Sunday without citing sources.
The companies intend to ultimately push down the production cost of bioethanol to 40 yen per litre by the end of 2015 -- a level considered to be competitive with other alternative energy sources, the business daily said.
Production of bioethanol from sugar cane, seen as the most cost-effective material, currently costs about 140 yen per litre in Japan, it said.
Other participants in the project include companies from the petrochemical, biotechnology, food, plant engineering, agricultural machinery and automotive sectors, the report said.
(1 US dollar = 111.09 yen)
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