Two Catalytic Technologies of Much Influence on Progress in Chemical Process Development in Japan

Abstract

A tremendous number of new catalytic chemical processes have been established and commercialized in Japan in recent years [l, 21. Table 1 shows typical Japanese-made technologies and processes from 1957, about which time the petrochemical industry started in Japan. In those days almost all processes adopted were either fully licensed from foreign companies in Western Europe and the U.S. or completed in Japan as a practical technology using basic and original ones discovered by the foreign companies. In 18 years, from 1957 to 1974, when the Japanese petrochemical industry matured and rapidly magnified its scale, 22 new technologies and processes were accomplished in Japan; however, some of them are not intrinsically Japanese for the reason already mentioned—they derived from foreign companies—and some others were only the first in Japan but not the first in the world. The next 17 years (1975–1992), which included two oil embargoes and were regarded as the time the industry entered the age of a low growth rate present striking contrasts, however, in that a considerable number, 29, of new technologies adopted in this period were Japanese originals. They were not only the first in Japan but also the first in the world.