Previously thought to be impossible, in March 2005 an eight member academic-industrial group coordinated by Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (IHI) completed the world�fs first liquid nitrogen-cooled inductor-type flux control superconducting motor (IFCS motor). Sales of the 400kW capacity motor start in August 2005 with 500t class ships, and within five years business is expected to reach 30 billion yen.

The IFCS motor reduces electric resistance to zero. This not only enables economical energy use, but also eliminates the discharge of heat into the atmosphere, thereby reducing the adverse impact on the natural environment. Moreover, this world first use of liquid nitrogen as a refrigerant, allows for a substantial reduction in the size and weight of the motor. In the case of a 500kW class of superconductive motor, the volume of the IFCS motor is reduced to one tenth and the weight to one fifth of the conventional superconductive motor.

In addition, the ground breaking IFCS motor is approximately 10% more efficient than the conventional superconductive one. With these features, the IFCS motor can be used in various areas such as shipping, rail, and wind power generation equipment.

If a ship with a pod type propulsion unit using IFCS motors visits a port frequently, it is estimated that waste gas emission can be reduced by 11% a year.

In June 2004, in cooperation with Niigata Transys Co., Ltd. (NTS), an IHI subsidiary, Mitsui & Co., Ltd., and MTR corporation, IHI received an order for 12 cars and improving work of incidental facilities for the existing new transportation system (APM). Due to start in January 2006, once constructed this system will connect HONG KONG AIRPORT ADMINISTRATION BUREAU and the passenger terminal in the HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (approximately 750m). IHI will undertake the whole construction as a main contractor whereas NTS will manufacture the cars.

This is the first overseas order for an APM System received by IHI since NTS was launched into the transportation business as a company within the IHI group in February 2003. Along with the construction of the System, IHI will search for further orders for APM systems in cooperation with NTS, in promising markets such as Asia and North America.

In December 2004 IHI received an order from the Daewoo Shipbuilding Company of Korea, for a floating crane. With a 3600t hoisting capacity, this crane is of the largest class in the world and will be delivered at the end of January 2006.

This order follows previous orders for large floating cranes from Fukada Salvage & Marine Works Co., Ltd. in 2002, and one from Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co., Ltd. of Korea in 2003 (both of which had a hoisting capacity of 3000t). This new order means that IHI has succeeded in receiving three orders in consecutive years.

To date IHI has achieved a total of 46 deliveries; 30 deliveries of cranes including the first one for Fukada Salvage & Marine Works Company in Japan, and 16 overseas deliveries including 3000t hoisting capacity class for South Korea and 2500t class for China. This new order from Daewoo Shipbuilding Company will bring the new total to 47.

On March 23 2005, IHI signed a contract for a business agreement for rolling mill engineering with VOEST Alpine Industrie AG or VAI (in Linz, Austria), a major steel manufacturing machinery plant maker. To facilitate business operations through the agreement, on June 1, 2005, IHI established IHI Metaltech Co., Ltd. in Tokyo.

IHI Metaltech Company, which is wholly owned by IHI, now undertakes engineering services for ferrous and nonferrous drolling mills, continuous casting machines, and other process lines required for steel production, together with control equipment for these facilities. These services include sales, design, erection, and after-delivery services. Metaltech exclusively conducts marketing in Japan, in other areas; together, Metaltech and VAI will jointly develop markets, fully utilizing the advantages of both companies.

In June 2004, IHI received an order for an LNG receiving terminal from the Chinese Petroleum Corporation under the management of the Taiwanese government. The receiving terminal will be constructed in the Taichung Port of Taiwan and will be provided with three 160,000kl LNG tanks.

In December 2004, IHI also received an order for an LNG receiving terminal from SEMPRA Energy, an electric power company in the USA. This receiving terminal will consist of three 160,000kl LNG storage tanks, the largest in the USA, and will have an annual capacity for LNG receiving of seven to ten million tons.

Recently demand for LNG has increased around the world, and this has in turn stimulated the construction of many new LNG receiving terminals. IHI has much experience in the LNG-related business both in Japan and overseas, but in particular in LNG receiving terminals built in India and Mexico after 2000. Besides terminals, IHI has also received stacks of orders for the construction of LNG tanks in the Middle East and Europe.

IHI will continue to develop the prospective market worldwide, where demand is expected to increase.

During the fiscal years from 1992 to 1999 New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) commissioned IHI in collaboration with the Center For Coal Utilization in Japan, to develop oxygen combustion technology.

In October 2004, in cooperation with various companies including an in Australia electric power company, a coal supply company, and a research institute, IHI decided to start the feasibility study of this technology, when applied to the recovery of carbon dioxide from existing pulverized coal fuelled thermal power plants

The oxygen combustion technology that IHI proposed to develop will enable the economic recovery of carbon dioxide from a pulverized coal fuelled thermal power plant. The new combustion system involves the combustion of pulverized coal using only oxygen instead of regular air; this allows exhaust gas of almost 100% carbon dioxide.

By simplifying the carbon dioxide recovery unit this will in turn affect the cost impact on the recovery process and the separation of carbon dioxide. Also by making equipment more compact and enabling the elimination of flue gas treatment equipment required for pre-treatment, this system is expected to enable great savings. It is for these reasons that this oxygen combustion technology is of great concern for related industries worldwide.

Looking towards the future, IHI will first perform a two-year feasibility study (commissioned by NEDO) for the existing plants in Australia to check the applicability and validity of the oxygen combustion technology. Once this has been completed, IHI will conduct verification tests on the recovery/separation of carbon dioxide by modifying existing power plants.

In March 2005, IHI shipped two large reactors from Yokohama Works to Oryx GTL of Qatar, 60m long, 10m in diameter, and weighing more than 2000t. The reactor is based on the GTL (Gas to Liquid) technology developed by the Sasol Group and this will be the first construction of a GTL plant on a commercial scale in a country other than Republic of South Africa.

Oryx GTL is a joint venture by Sasol, an oil company in Republic of South Africa, and Qatar Petroleum, owned by the Qatar Government, and will be built in the Lasrafan Industrial District. The high quality oil and naphtha produced by the GTL plant will be supplied in the first quarter of 2006 with a daily output of 34,000 barrels.

IHI, in collaboration with Sojitz Corporation, signed a long-term supply contract for GTL reactors with Sasol in 2002. Sasol will construct the plant with a production capacity of 500,000 barrels of liquid fuel a day by the end of 2013.