Japan's Kao Corp. Wins Green Sustainable Chemistry (GSC) Award

Kao Corp., a major Japanese manufacturer of chemical products, announced on February 26, 2010, that it won the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award for the Ninth Green Sustainable Chemistry (GSC) Award.

The award was given to Kao for its practical application of a surfactant synthesis process that has low impact on the environment by using subcritical water. The alkyl glyceryl ether (AGE), a surfactant widely used in dishwashing detergents, shampoos, and skin cleaners, is synthesized from a hydration reaction of glycidyl ether. While the conventional method uses a catalyst and solvent, the newly developed technology uses only water in a subcritical state, produced under high temperature and high pressure, thus eliminating the need for a catalyst and solvent for the chemical reaction.

The new technology dramatically reduced the reaction time to three minutes from the conventional nine hours and the size of the reactor is 260 times smaller. Also, the amount of waste left over after the reaction is substantially reduced by avoiding the use of any catalyst or solvent and by recycling the water. The process has been used at Kao's Wakayama Factory since 2005.

The GSC Award is organized by the Green Sustainable Chemistry Network (GSCN), which was established by academic societies and organizations in the chemistry field and national research institutes in 2000. The award is presented every year to organizations that contribute to the promotion of green, sustainable chemistry. This year, four applicants received the award.

Kao worldwide website
http://www.kao.com/index_en.html
Green & Sustainable Chemistry Network, Japan
http://www.gscn.net/indexE.html

Posted: 2010/06/09 06:00:15 AM