Press Releases

Kurita Water Industries Ltd. (Head Office: Nakano-ku, Tokyo; President: Hirohiko Ejiri; hereinafter "Kurita") and Fracta Leap Inc. (Head Office: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Yasuhiro Kitabayashi; hereinafter "Fracta Leap"), are pleased to announce the completion of the Ministry of the Environment's "Demonstration Project for Accelerating Practical Use of Innovative CO₂ Emission Reduction Infection Control Technologies"^*1, under their joint Meta-Aqua Project^*2.

Demonstration was primarily based on "optimizing the operation of reverse osmosis (RO) membrane system^*3 using an AI-controlled operational system." By having AI optimize system operation based on past data, it was successfully demonstrated that the built solution was capable of simultaneously reducing both operating costs and CO₂ emissions. Specifically, "AI for Optimal Operation", can reduce the operating costs by about 40% and CO₂ emissions by about 10%, compared to the previous manual operation method (Fig. 1). Based on the uniqueness and novelty of this technology, both companies have been granted a joint patent.

Figure 1: Overview of AI for Optimal Operation for RO Membrane

Demonstration was conducted at a plant in the microelectronics industry from November 2022 to January 2023, in which the amount of electricity consumed during "normal operation" was compared against "AI for Optimal Operation" (Fig. 2). The results showed that AI for Optimal Operation achieved its CO₂ reduction target, demonstrating the effectiveness of the solution.

Figure 2: Demonstration Testing Results: Changes in Electricity Consumption

Figure 3: RO Membrane System Subjected to Demonstration Testing

Kurita Group plans to offer the "AI for Optimal Operation" solution to customers, who are working to reduce carbon emissions globally. In addition to this initiative, Kurita offers a wide range of solutions that contribute to water saving, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and recycling resources to solve the challenges of society and industry (Fig. 4).

Figure 4: Kurita Group Solutions for Reducing Environmental Impact

Also, Fracta Leap, with its business growth, is now hiring professionals such as architects, tech lead, mathematical optimization engineers, data engineers, product managers and business development leaders.

Notes

• *1"Demonstration Project for Accelerating Practical Use of Innovative CO₂ Emission Reduction Infection Control Technologies": A Ministry of the Environment demonstration project that combines support for the development of green solutions using digital technology to achieve Japan's greenhouse gas reduction targets with support for the creation of safe, secure, and hygienic environments for today's post-COVID world.
• *2"Meta-Aqua Project": A joint project between Kurita and Fracta Leap with the aim of radically improving productivity through digital technologies for the sustainability of water treatment infrastructure. The project chiefly promotes smartification (more efficient and sophisticated) of water treatment plant design, production, operation, and management using AI and IoT technologies. It is also worth noting that this project was awarded the Japan Open Innovation Prize by the Cabinet Office of the Minister of the Environment for the "AI for Optimal Operation " covered in this release.
• *3Reverse osmosis (RO) membrane system: A membrane that removes ions and organic matter from water. They are primarily used in areas such as ultrapure water for semiconductor and liquid crystal manufacturing, wastewater reclamation in private factories, and seawater desalination plants. Because the operation of this system requires the use of a feed pump to apply high pressure to the raw water to penetrate the membrane, one of the key issues in the water treatment industry is the high electricity consumption of the system. In previous verifications of production lines, this system accounted for approximately 60% of the total power consumption of the line.