Kao wins GSC Incentive Award for industrial fermentative gallic acid production
- Received the Incentive Award in the 24th Green and Sustainable Chemistry Awards by the Japan Association for Chemical Innovation for industrial fermentative production of gallic acid.
- Engineered microorganisms with an enhanced metabolic pathway plus a newly incorporated pathway doubled conventional production yield.
- Developed a proprietary purification method to raise gallic acid purity and uses plant-derived glucose as a sustainable feedstock.
- Bio gallic acid is already used in the company’s products and adopted by domestic manufacturers for boiler water corrosion inhibitors; plans to expand to Asia and Europe and apply the technology to other aromatic compounds.
Award
Kao Corporation received the “Incentive Award” in the 24th Green and Sustainable Chemistry Awards presented by the Japan Association for Chemical Innovation for its industrial fermentative production of gallic acid. The Incentive Award recognizes achievements with promising future contributions to green and sustainable chemistry.
Technology
The process produces gallic acid from commonly available glucose using engineered microorganisms. Kao enhanced the microorganisms’ metabolic pathway and incorporated a new pathway, achieving roughly double the conventional production yield, and developed a unique purification method to increase purity. The route is described as environmentally friendly, relying on plant-based raw materials and microbial strains; the research was detailed in a Kao news release on March 31, 2023.
Applications and commercialisation
The bio-produced gallic acid is already used in the company’s own products and has been adopted by domestic manufacturers for applications such as boiler water corrosion inhibitors and industrial uses including semiconductor materials. Kao announced the launch of the bio aromatic compound produced by fermentation on January 11, 2024, and plans to expand the business to Asia and Europe while further developing fermentative production for other aromatic compounds.
Company track record
This recognition follows earlier GSC-related achievements by Kao across multiple years, including technologies for surfactant production with subcritical water (FY2009), sustainable washing proposals (FY2012), paper-based casting runners (FY2016), water-based inkjet ink for food packaging (FY2018), a sustainable surfactant "Bio-IOS" (FY2020), and a low-grade waste PET technology for asphalt (FY2022).
Source: Kao Chemicals
