HIROTEC CORPORATION (headquartered in Saeki Ward, Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture; hereinafter "the Company"), a global engineering company specializing in automotive components, has successfully demonstrated the prototype production of "bio-formed coal" comparable to conventional coal coke. This achievement was made through joint research with the Faculty of Engineering at Kindai University (Higashi-Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture) under the Company's internal new business program, "HIROTEC neXt Biz Challenge" (hereinafter "HIROCHARE"), as its first project, the "Oyster Upscale" initiative. The bio-formed coal uses waste bamboo materials (primarily oyster farming rafts) generated in Hiroshima Prefecture and surrounding areas as its main raw material. By combining HIROTEC's long-standing press forming and production technologies from the automotive industry with material development and raw material processing expertise from Professor Kohei Shiraishi of the Department of Chemical and Life Engineering at Kindai University's Faculty of Engineering, the project successfully produced bio-formed coal with heat output equivalent to existing coal coke and high density matching industrial standards. Detailed evaluations of the prototype's mechanical properties and combustion efficiency were conducted at Kindai University's Faculty of Engineering and completed by the end of April 2026. Moving forward, the Company aims to commercialize the product by the end of 2026, positioning it as an additive that contributes to CO2 reduction when blended into coal for combustion, and as a combustion-efficiency booster during the transition from coal to biomass fuels. [Key Points of This Release] ● Resource utilization of 5,000 tons of waste bamboo Targeting resource recovery using approximately 5,000 tons of waste bamboo (mainly oyster farming rafts) generated annually in Hiroshima Prefecture and nearby areas as the primary raw material ● Performance comparable to coal coke Ach