Limestone, which is the raw material of LIMEX, is abundant all over the world, and is a resource that is 100% self-sufficient (*1) even in Japan. By using limestone, we will reduce the use of scarce resources such as oil, wood, and water that are considered to be at high risk of depletion, and contribute to resource conservation on a global scale.

As the world's population continues to grow, the demand for plastics and paper will continue to grow. On the other hand, because of its abundance, limestone has excellent supply stability. For this reason, LIMEX is attracting attention from regions where water resources are scarce and rely on imported paper, and African regions where resource consumption is accelerating due to population growth. It is more than just a new material, it is also a business that accelerates new industry around the world.

​_​​_​ In the future, instead of limestone, which is a mineral resource, we aim to use calcium carbonate made from _CO2 emitted from factories and power plants as a raw material to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions and realize a carbon negative material. 

Limestone in Japan is mostly used for urban development, as shown in the graph. It can be said that it is an indispensable resource in our lives. The maximum amount of limestone used in LIMEX produced at our own factory is 18,600 tons per year, which is only 0.01% of the amount used in Japan. About 600,000 to 900,000 tons of limestone is used annually as a coating agent and filler (preventing see-through) for paper, and as a raw material for bleaching pulp.

As mentioned above, the maximum amount of limestone used for LIMEX produced at our own factory is 18,600 tons per year, which is 0.01% of the 132,690,000 tons of domestic limestone consumption per year. In addition, limestone is used as a paper coating agent and filler (preventing see-through) at approximately 600,000 to 900,000 tons per year, which is 30 to 50 times the amount of LIMEX, and is also used as a raw material for bleaching pulp. 

As LIMEX becomes more popular in the future, the amount of limestone used is expected to increase. About 3.79 million tons of limestone is required, which is only about 2.9% of the total shipment of 130 million tons of limestone (*2). Similarly, even if all of the polyethylene and polypropylene (4.5 million tons in 2019)*3, which account for approximately 46% of the total plastic production in Japan, were replaced with LIMEX Pellet, approximately 4.42 million tons of limestone would be required (*4). ), which is about 3.3% of the total shipment of 130 million tons of limestone in Japan.

These days, there is a need to quantitatively understand the environmental impacts of all products and services throughout their lifecycles and work to reduce them._​Petroleum-based plastics are manufactured by drilling crude oil and transporting it to a refinery, fractionating naphtha, and polymerizing the extracted monomers. A lot of energy is consumed and CO ₂ is emitted through the heating process. Limestone, on the other hand, requires less energy at the raw material procurement stage than petroleum-based plastics, due to the simple manufacturing and processing process of crushing mined limestone.
Of course, if limestone is also incinerated, it emits CO ₂. However, compared to petroleum-based plastics such as polypropylene, it emits approximately 58% less CO2 when burned. Petroleum-based plastics contain a large amount of carbon, which combines with oxygen _​in the atmosphere during combustion and is released as carbon dioxide (CO ₂). Calcium undergoes an endothermic reaction at around 600-800℃ and is decomposed into calcium oxide (CaO) and _CO2. The difference in _CO2 emissions is due to this difference in chemical structure.

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