Mitsubishi Plastics, Inc.
Mitsubishi Plastics Marketing Co., Ltd.

 

Mitsubishi Plastics Inc. (head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President Hiroshi Yoshida) has formed a sales project within Mitsubishi Plastics Marketing Co., Ltd. (head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President Ryohei Ogawa) in order to dramatically expand the market for AQSOA™ desiccant air conditioner, which incorporate a unique adsorbent that absorbs and releases moisture using lower-temperature heat sources than those for traditional air conditioners, and will launch sales and marketing activities throughout Japan. It has been confirmed that the first unit sold through this project will be used as air-conditioning equipment at TokyoTech Environment and Energy Innovation Building located on Tokyo Institute of Technology’s Ookayama Campus. The building is based on the concept of zero emissions and brings together the latest environmental technology equipment.

Installed unit

 
Desiccant air conditioner controls the moisture in the air (humidity) using water vapor adsorbent. Ones that incorporate AQSOA™, a water vapor adsorbent with unique characteristics, are able to efficiently release (regenerate) water vapor at lower temperature ranges than ones that employ the generally-used silica gel. This makes it possible to operate the air conditioner with little energy.

In July 2009, Mitsubishi Plastics launched test sales of AQSOA™ desiccant air conditioner and has won several orders including one from Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation. It is projected that demand for AQSOA™ desiccant air conditioner will continue to grow as interest in energy efficiency has increased since then. Therefore, Mitsubishi Plastics launched a sales project within Mitsubishi Plastics Marketing, which has offices throughout Japan and actual experience selling cooling towers for air-conditioning systems, in order to make use of its sales channels and to further increase sales of these air-conditioning systems. Sales and maintenance throughout Japan will be handled by Mitsubishi Plastics Marketing’s offices in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya.

The first order received by Mitsubishi Plastic Marketing was for a unit to be used in TokyoTech Environment and Energy Innovation Building of Tokyo Institute of Technology, which Associate Professor Manabu Ihara designed the facilities for. The reason the unit was selected was that AQSOA™’s low-temperature regeneration matches the concept behind the building of making effective use of all energy (In this case, the waste heat of fuel cells (50ºC) is used. The energy for regeneration comes completely from this waste heat.) Compared to traditional desiccant air conditioners that do not make use of waste heat, this reduces energy use by the amount regenerated.

Mitsubishi Plastics and Mitsubishi Plastics Marketing will advertise the product’s energy efficiency, which stems from the characteristics of AQSOA™, and expand sales of both desiccant air conditioners and related services including maintenance throughout Japan using Mitsubishi Plastics Marketing’s network. Mitsubishi Plastics will implement other measures in the future such as examining increasing the number of agents that handle the product to meet demand.

 

 

 

■Inquires regarding this material should be directed to the
	Public Relations Section, General Administration Dept., Mitsubishi Plastics Inc. TEL: +81-3-3279-3800