Summary

Nippon Gohsei, founded in 1927, is a producer of a variety of synthetic chemicals, including poly(vinyl alcohol) (or PVA) and ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers. The company's PVA manufacturing capacity is the second largest in the world at approximately 6,000 tons per month, and includes a 30% share of the Japanese market. The company employs approximately 1,100 people, 130 of whom are at the R&D laboratory in Osaka. Nippon Gohsei maintains three production facilities in Japan. PVA is used in textiles, paper processing, emulsifiers, sizing, and adhesives.

Highlights

• Nippon Gohsei is involved in a joint effort with Novamont to develop and market starch blends.

• The company is a major producer of PVA for biodegradable materials.

• PVA used in textile sizing and other applications is currently treated in an activated sludge system. The company believes that it is completely biodegradable under these conditions.

• Nippon Gohsei has already succeeded in isolating specific microorganisms and enzymes involved in this process,* while they use the MITI method as a novel one to assess biodegradation (activated sludge and BOD).