Blocks made from shells and blocks made from steel slag sit atop concrete platforms. Nippon Oil is lending Mother Nature a hand in creating reefs that will serve as propagation platforms for algae and as feeding grounds for fish. It makes the reefs with scallop shells and steel slag by using sulfur. A field study to evaluate the reefs began in November. Providing support for the project is the Petroleum Energy Center, a nonprofit industry association.   Scallop shells and steel slag epitomize the challenge of disposal presented by inorganic solid waste. Japanese consume vast quantities of scallops, which leaves food processors with mountainous heaps of shells to deal with. Steel slag, meanwhile, is an environmental headache in every steel-producing nation. Japan is running out of landfill sites for waste disposal, and the prices charged for disposal in the dwindling sites available are escalating.   Nippon Oil, Japan's largest oil refiner and gasoline retailer, is a leader in developing cleaner, more-sustainable sources of energy. In developing synthetic reefs, the company is applying its technological resources to new kinds of environmental protection. Sulfur The field study is at an offshore site in Hokkaido. Nippon Oil has put in place one-ton blocks made from waste shells and slag. It has used a sulfur-based hardening agent to mold the shells and slag into hard and hopefully durable blocks. Researchers will evaluate the pace of algae growth on the artificial reef and the durability of the blocks. Their evaluation will continue until April 2007.   Using a sulfur binding agent for the shells and slag promises to attract algae faster than using concrete would. Sulfur is not markedly acidic or alkaline, whereas concrete is highly alkaline.

Tokio Marine, Mitsubishi Research Institute, and Mitsubishi Materials Natural Resources Development have launched a service for evaluating soil contamination reliably and inexpensively. The service is invaluable to buyers and sellers of real estate and to lenders that provide financing for real estate transactions.   At the heart of the service is a statistical model for calculating the likelihood of contamination. The model addresses such factors as the kind of industrial activity that has taken place on and around a site and the likely cost of purging the site of any contaminated soil that might be found. It draws on Mitsubishi Materials Natural Resources Development's experience in soil analysis and decontamination.   Tokio Marine and its partners are promoting their service especially to financial institutions. Banks and other lenders will use the service in calculating the value of real estate offered as collateral and of property that comes into their hands through foreclosures.

One of these could be on its way soon to a service station near you. Mitsubishi Kakoki, a leader in plant engineering, has supplied hydrogen plants for 40 years to produce hydrogen for industrial processes. Now, it is beginning to supply service stations for fuel cell vehicles.   The hydrogen-producing units from Mitsubishi Kakoki use steam reforming to secure large volumes of hydrogen inexpensively from water vapor. The company has supplied more than 60 large hydrogen plants to oil refiners and petrochemical manufacturers. In 1988, it augmented its product offerings with medium-sized units. It has since supplied 18 of those units to manufacturers of metal products, semiconductor devices, optical fiber, and other items.   The Mitsubishi Kakoki line of hydrogen-producing equipment broadened even further in 1998. That was when the company developed a small unit in cooperation with Tokyo Gas. Mitsubishi has since delivered 14 small units, mainly to produce hydrogen for fuel cells.   Mitsubishi Kakoki is looking to new sources of hydrogen in the units it is developing for automotive service stations. The candidates include municipal gas, liquefied petroleum gas, naphtha, and kerosene. Mitsubishi Kakoki has developed units based on all of these materials. It also supplies hydrogen storage tanks and filling equipment for the fuel cell service stations.