NTT Group (NTT, NTT Docomo, NTT East, NTT West, NTT Data, and NTT Urban Solutions) used fabric made from 100% biodegradable polylactic acid as part of the building materials for the NTT Pavilion exhibited at the Osaka-Kansai Expo.
Osaka Gas is aiming to utilize some of the fabric for energy conversion and reuse at sewage treatment plants. Osaka Gas’s proprietary technology decomposes polylactic acid into lactic acid. The lactic acid is then fed into a digester at the Nakahama Sewage Treatment Plant in Osaka City, where it is converted into biogas and used as energy within the plant. The recovered fabric is expected to produce 60 cubic meters of biogas (equivalent to the daily city gas consumption of approximately 30 average households).
Polylactic acid is a plant-derived, biodegradable bioplastic that decomposes under certain conditions due to the action of microorganisms. It is expected that this will reduce the use of non-renewable resources, including fossil fuels, and curb greenhouse gas emissions.

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