
TOKYO -- Japanese companies are developing biofuels that can be burned alongside coal to cut carbon dioxide emissions at power plants without investment in pricey new equipment.
Oil distributor Idemitsu Kosan has developed a new type of pellet fuel made from compressed wood waste carbonized at a low temperature that can be burned in coal-fired plants. Plant-based biomass can be considered a carbon-neutral fuel, since burning it just releases the CO2 previously absorbed by the plants.