Toray Industries, Inc.

Chiba University

Satoshi Sakami

Katsushige Yamada

Kenji Kawamura

Masateru Ito

Daijiro Tsukamoto

Koji Kawai

Izumi Morita

Masayuki Maeda

Shinya Ueno

Miyuki Horiguchi

Mark Joseph Burk

Hiroshi Nagase

Takashi Endo

Michael Japs

Kyohei Isobe

Warren Clark

Satoshi Sato

Tetsu Yonehara

Takumi Aoki

Masataka Makino

Hailing Duan

A method of producing lactic acid includes filtering a lactic acid-containing aqueous solution through a nanofiltration membrane to recover an aqueous lactic acid solution from the permeate side (Step A); distilling the aqueous lactic acid solution to recover lactic acid from the vapor side (Step B); and crystallizing the lactic acid obtain in Step B, and performing solid-liquid separation to recover a lactic acid crystal(s) (Step C).

Method of producing lactic acid and polylactic acid

A method of producing 2,3-butanediol includes subjecting a 2,3-butanediol culture liquid produced by microbial fermentation to nanofiltration membrane treatment and ion-exchange treatment (Step A), and then adding an alkaline substance and performing distillation (Step B).

Process for producing 2,3-butanediol

A method of producing lactic acid includes subjecting a lactic acid-containing solution to distillation to collect lactic acid from the vapor side (Step A); subjecting the lactic acid obtained in Step A to crystallization (Step B); subjecting the lactic acid slurry obtained in Step B to solid-liquid separation into lactic acid crystals and a mother liquor (Step C); and circulating the mother liquor obtained in Step C to Step B (Step D).

Lactic acid manufacturing method

A method for producing highly pure p-toluic acid by a simple solid-liquid separation operation using as a raw material a substance inducible from a biomass resource and suitable for fermentation production by a microorganism is disclosed. The method for producing p-toluic acid includes: a dehydration reaction step of dehydrating Compound(s) (1)-(4), which are substances inducible from biomass resources and suitable for fermentation production by microorganisms; and a solid-liquid separation step of recovering a solid produced by this dehydration reaction by a simple solid-liquid separation operation.

P-toluic acid production method

A method for producing butadiene from 2,3-butanediol with high selectivity without using a radioactive substance is disclosed. The method for producing butadiene comprises the step of dehydrating 2,3-butanediol in the presence of a catalyst containing an alkali metal salt of phosphoric acid such as an alkali metal dihydrogen phosphate supported on silica. Preferred examples of the alkali metal herein include K, Rb, and Cs. The catalyst is preferably a catalyst prepared by calcination of the silica to which the alkali metal of phosphoric acid is attached.

Method for producing butadiene

A process produces 1,4-butanediol by purifying 1,4-butanediol originated from a fermentation broth, by which process 1,4-butanediol having properties suited as a material of producing a polyester is obtained, which 1,4-butanediol enables to reduce by-production of tetrahydrofuran during the esterification reaction and to reduce the delay in polymerization. The process of producing 1,4-butanediol includes adding an alkaline substance other than an ammonia or an amine to an aqueous 1,4-butanediol-containing solution originated from a fermentation broth; distilling the resulting mixture; and recovering a 1,4-butanediol-containing solution from the vapor flow.

Process of producing 1,4-butanediol

An alcohol production method whereby high quality alcohol can be easily and effectively produced includes a step in which an alcohol solution, which contains sugar and/or sugar alcohol as an impurity and an alcohol other than sugar alcohol as a main component, has the sugar and/or sugar alcohol adsorptively removed therefrom by contacting the alcohol solution with one type or a mixture of two or more types of adsorbents selected from zeolite, an ion-exchange resin, silica alumina, and alumina.

Alcohol production method

Disclosed is a method for producing 1,3-butadiene and/or 3-buten-2-ol from 2,3-butanediol with high selectivity without using a radioactive substance. The method for producing 1,3-butadiene and/or 3-buten-2-ol comprises the step of dehydrating 2,3-butanediol in the presence of scandium oxide. The method enables the production of 1,3-butadiene and/or 3-buten-2-ol from 2,3-butanediol with high selectivity without using a radioactive substance.

Method for producing 1,3-butadiene and/or 3-buten-2-ol

Disclosed is a method for producing p-xylene and/or p-tolualdehyde with high yield through a short process using biomass resource-derived substances as raw materials. The method for producing p-xylene and/or p-tolualdehyde of the present invention comprises: a cyclization step of producing 4-methyl-3-cyclohexenecarboxaldehyde from isoprene and acrolein; and an aromatization step of producing p-xylene and/or p-tolualdehyde from 4-methyl-3-cyclohexenecarboxaldehyde by gas-phase flow reaction using a catalyst(s).

Growing community of inventors

Kamakura, Japan

Satoshi Sakami