2025/05/30
Kao Receives “Incentive Award” in the 24th Green and Sustainable Chemistry Awards
~ Industrial Production of Gallic Acid by fermentative production ~
Kao Corporation has been awarded the “Incentive Award” in the 24th Green and Sustainable Chemistry (GSC) Awards by the Japan Association for Chemical Innovation (JACI) for its achievement in “Industrial Production of Gallic Acid by fermentative production”*1. This award recognizes outstanding achievements that contribute to the advancement of green and sustainable chemistry. The Incentive Award is given to achievements with promising future contributions to the promotion of GSC.
*1Kao News Release, March 31, 2023: “Fermentative Production Technologies That Made It Possible to Produce Chemical Ingredients from Biomass—Succeeded in Highly Efficient Production of Aromatic Compounds from Glucose Utilizing Microorganisms (in Japanese)”
<Technology Introduction Video ：Production of Bioaromatic Compounds by Fermentation Production>
1. Background and Overview of the Award-Winning Research
Gallic acid is one of plant polyphenol and an industrially important aromatic compound broadly used for rust-preventive agents for boiler and to manufacture semiconductor. However, since gallic acid is produced by extracting from insect galls (gallnut) produced by a wide variety of parasitic organisms living on with plants of the family Anacardiaceae, yield is influenced by weather, and the production sites are limited. In response, Kao developed the fermentative production technology using plant-derived raw materials (glucose) to industrially produce gallic acid.
2. Key Features of the Technology
- Enhanced the metabolic pathway of gallic acid-producing microorganisms and incorporated a new pathway, achieving double the conventional production yield.
- Developed the unique purification method to successfully increase the purity of gallic acid.
- Environmentally friendly production with plant-based raw materials and microbial strains
< Image of gallic acid >
This fermentative production of gallic acid uses commonly available glucose as raw material, enabling stable and sustainable manufacturing unaffected by geographic or environmental factors. Furthermore, the results of this research are expected to be applicable not only to gallic acid but also to other bio-manufacturing processes. The bio gallic acid produced using this technology is already being used as raw material in Kao’s own products and has been adopted by domestic manufacturers for applications such as boiler water corrosion inhibitors*2. Going forward, Kao plans to expand the business to Asia and Europe and continue developing fermentative production technologies for other aromatic compounds.
*2 Kao News Release, January 11, 2024:
Kao | Launch of Bio Aromatic Compound ‘Gallic Acid’ through Fermentation Production: Stable Supply of Industrial Essential Chemical Materials
3. Reference: Kao’s History of GSC Award Achievements
- 9th (FY2009): Industrialization of Surfactant Production Process Synthesized with Subcritical Water
- 12th (FY2012): The Proposal of New Washing Leading the Sustainable Future Society
- 16th (FY2016): Development of Paper-based Casting Runners
- 18th (FY2018): Development of Water-based Inkjet Ink for Food Package
- 20th (FY2020): Sustainable surfactant "Bio-IOS"
- 22nd (FY2022): Technology for Tough Asphalt Pavement Using Low-grade Waste PET
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