Bangkok--25 Mar--UBE Group (Thailand) UBE Group (Thailand), the only producer in Southeast Asia of Caprolactam, an organic compound used to make nylon, has pioneered Thailand's petrochemical sector in reducing the greenhouse gases and global warming in its Caprolactam plant. The company boasts the world's first project for the abatement of Nitrous Oxide gas which is equivalent to 170,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide gas per year. Machine and equipment installations are due to be put in place in the third quarter of 2008. According to Dr.Charunya Phichitkul, President and CEO of UBE Group (Thailand), the group through its subsidiary Thai Caprolactam Public Company Limited (TCL) has teamed up with Mitsubishi Corporation in Japan to develop a project with total investment of 120 million baht to reduce nitrous oxide (N2O) gas, which is considered a greenhouse gas formed as a by-product in the Caprolactam production process and a major contributor to global warming in the Caprolactam plant in Thailand. This project will transform nitrous oxide gases into nitrogen and oxygen which are the most abundant gases in nature before emissions into the atmosphere. After the completion, the project is expected to help reduce nitrous oxide gas approximately 550 metric tonnes per year with which is equivalent to 170,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide gases emitted by 40-megawatt power plant. Thai Caprolactam Public Company Limited (TCL)'s new project was approved by the Thai government on February 19, 2008. The company expects to be able to start installations of machines and equipments immediately and commence operations to reduce the greenhouse gases by the third quarter of 2008. Dr. Charunya Phichitkul, President & CEO of UBE Group (Thailand), said that this greenhouse gas reduction project will be the world's first project for the abatement of Nitrous Oxide gas arising from the manufacturing process of Caprolactam. In addition, it is also the first project in the Petrochemical sector which kicks off the concrete effort to reduce the greenhouse gases in order to address an impact of the global warming. Currently, it is widely known that greenhouse gas emission to atmosphere is the major cause of global warming and climate change. As a result, many countries, under United Nations, established an agreement by the name Kyoto Protocol in 1997 in order to reduce global warming. In addition, an arrangement to reduce greenhouse gases was implemented under the name "Clean Development Mechanism or CDM" as a guideline to help address the greenhouse gas emission to atmosphere. UBE Group (Thailand) is always concerned on the environmental issues and historically participated in the global warming reduction activities apart from the nitrous oxide reduction project, such as the reverse-osmosis water treatment process. In addition to the environmental help, the company has also managed well to survive the severe drought in 2005 because of the reverse-osmosis water treatment process in place. The process has helped well curbed the operation loss and enabled the company to retain its steady and high production rate. Moreover, the company has implemented AR Boiler project which incinerate the waste to produce steam in production process. The project could help reduce significantly steam consumption from the power plant, consequently helping reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere. And at the latest development, the company has participated in the global warming reduction activities according to the guideline of the said Clean Development Mechanism or CDM.