Shanghai Donggeng Chemical’s 3,000-ton/year isosorbite production technology suite has passed evaluation

Thread Content

Recently, the 3,000-ton/year isosorbitol production technology developed jointly by Shanghai Donggeng Chemical Technology Co., Ltd. and Puyang Shengtong Juyuan New Materials Co., Ltd. successfully passed the evaluation for scientific and technological achievements by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation. The appraisal committee unanimously concluded that this technology has reached an internationally advanced level as a whole, marking a significant breakthrough in key technologies and their industrial application in the field of core monomers for high-end bio-based materials in China. It provides strong support for ensuring self-sufficiency and control over the industrial chains of high-end materials such as bio-based polycarbonates and bio-based polyesters. Isosorbide is currently the only rigid bio-based diol that has been produced on an industrial scale worldwide. It serves as a key structural monomer for the production of high-performance materials such as bio-based polycarbonates and bio-based high-temperature resistant polyesters, and is widely used in fields such as optics, electronics, and medicine. For a long time, the production of isosorbite in China has relied primarily on traditional batch processes using sulfuric acid. This approach is plagued by issues such as severe corrosion caused by strong acids, high equipment costs, poor stability in terms of product color and purity, difficulties in scaling up operations on a continuous basis, and low yields. As a result, the supply of polymeric-grade products is limited, and high-end applications have to rely on imports for a long time, which constitutes a bottleneck hindering the advancement of China’s bio-based materials industry. To address the common challenges in this industry, Donggeng Company focused on the goals of continuity, sustainability, and high purity in its technologies. In collaboration with Shengtong Juyuan, it carried out research and development efforts to develop a comprehensive engineering system for green synthesis and high-purity processing, successfully enabling the full-scale continuous production of high-end bio-based monomers. The set of technologies that have been approved this time possesses complete independent intellectual property rights, and an industrial facility with a capacity of 3,000 tons has already been built. A relevant official from Donggeng Company said that the technology developed through this collaboration has achieved significant innovations in three key areas. First, the catalytic system has been upgraded. The project utilizes a newly developed, mild catalyst of its own design, which completely replaces traditional strong acid catalysts such as sulfuric acid and p-toluenesulfonic acid, as well as solid acids that are difficult to recover. This reduces equipment corrosion, enhances reaction efficiency, and minimizes side reactions. It is highly compatible with continuous production processes, thereby improving production stability and safety from the source. Second, conduct precise analysis to overcome quality control challenges. The project introduces calcium-based sugar columns and parallax refractometry detectors to overcome the technical challenges associated with the efficient separation of sugar alcohol impurities, and establishes a high-performance liquid chromatography method for determining the absolute content of isosorbite, thereby providing a reliable technical basis for precise control throughout the production process. Third, green purification achieves energy savings and carbon reduction. The project innovatively develops a coupled process of distillation separation and dynamic melt crystallization for high-purity purification; no solvents are used throughout the process, and the energy consumption is only 20%–40% of that in traditional solvent-based crystallization processes, resulting in a significant reduction in waste emissions ； The product purity remains stable at ≥99.5%, and its colorimetric parameters meet the requirements for high-end applications in the electronic and polymer industries. Industry experts say that this technology successfully fills the gap in China’s continuous production of polymeric isosorbite, enhancing the security and self-sufficiency of the country’s bio-based materials supply chain while reducing the manufacturing costs of high-end bio-based polycarbonates. It represents an important achievement in the integrated innovation of biomanufacturing and new chemical materials in China. In recent years, Donggeng Company has continued to focus on the fields of bio-based and high-end monomer engineering technologies. Leveraging this set of technologies, Donggeng Company has developed systematic capabilities ranging from laboratory research and development to industrial-scale production. These include core skills such as the continuous engineering scale-up of bio-based monomers, the high-purity purification of complex sugar alcohol systems, the delivery of these technologies on an industrial scale, and the coordinated design of monomers and polymers. This has demonstrated the technical feasibility of the entire process, from biomass raw materials to high-end engineering plastics.