Toyota Advancing Plant-Based Biofuel Development in Fukushima Town That Suffered Nuclear Accident in 2011 in Japan

By Shinnosuke Kurama / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

17:22 JST, March 10, 2026

OKUMA, Fukushima — Companies including Toyota Motor Corp. are advancing the development of plant-based biofuels in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture.

Okuma is host to the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant owned by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc., and the town was subject to an evacuation order following the 2011 accident at the plant.

Sorghum grown in the prefecture is used to make a biofuel that is expected to be used in automobile racing starting in April. There are hopes that the biofuel will be commercialized as a fuel of the future that reduces carbon dioxide emissions.

Toyota has a sorghum farm located in a corner of a field of rice paddies in the town. The farm is about 0.5 hectares in size, and around 30,000 sorghum plants are planted there in the summer.

Sorghum is a plant native to Africa, although its grain is not widely used for food in Japan. Thanks to improvements in varieties, 88 kinds of sorghum are cultivated in the town, including some that grow to a height of about 6 meters tall and others that grow immediately after harvest.

Okuma is home to a research facility for trial production of bioethanol, and it is run by the Research Association of Biomass Innovation for Next Generation Automobile Fuels (raBit), an entity formed by Toyota, ENEOS Corp. and others. About 270 liters of bioethanol can be produced from one ton of dried sorghum in a seven-day process there, according to raBit.

Fuel to be used in auto race

Bioethanol can be used as a fuel by mixing it with gasoline and other components, and it is expected to be used as automobile fuel in the future. Because the sorghum plant absorbs CO2 during cultivation, CO2 emissions do not increase in the atmosphere when it is burned as a fuel, contributing to decarbonization.

Fuel blended with 10% Fukushima-produced bioethanol is scheduled to be used in the All Japan Super Formula Championship, an automobile race, from April to the end of the season in November. The research association will supply about 10,000 liters of its bioethanol to the event in the hope of putting the fuel into practical use.

“It is significant that decarbonization is being pursued in a disaster-affected area after the accident,” said raBit Director General Koichi Nakata, 59.

Evacuation orders in the town have been gradually lifted, but farming has begun at only 6.7% of farmland as of the end of March 2025, compared to the farming acreage before the disaster. Sorghum is expected to contribute to regenerating arable land and creating new industries as it grows well even in poor soil.

“The biofuel is currently in a test stage, but we hope it will lead to the practical implementation [of the fuel] and an expansion of the cultivation areas,” said Okuma Mayor Jun Yoshida.

The next challenge is reducing the manufacturing costs of the biofuel. Efforts are underway to lower costs by utilizing the residue of bioethanol production as fertilizer and other products. Research is also progressing on using plants other than sorghum for biofuels.