On 29 May, 2015, the project of efficient separation of sterol homologue from lanolin and the comprehensive utilization of byproducts, conducted by Zhejiang Garden Bio-chemical High-tech Co., Ltd. (Garden Bio-chemical), was granted the first prize of the provincial scientific and technological award in Zhejiang.

The scientific research project has great impact on the construction of VD3 industrial chain of Garden Bio-chemical. This project promotes the industrial production of VD3's raw material NF-grade cholesterol (purity >95%), so that the deadlock of China's heavy reliance upon import with regard to this raw materials is broken; besides, its byproduct 24-dehydrocholesterol when is produced from manufacturing VD3 will create higher economic values. From 2011 to 2014, the company achieved a total of USD52.28 million (RMB320 million) in sales and USD12.25 million (RMB75 million) in profit from this project.

24-dehydrocholesterol is very difficult to segregate as it is mingled with cholesterol and its contents are low in cholesterol. Garden Bio-chemical made technological breakthroughs in this respect by employing ionic liquids to segregate 24-dehydrocholesterol.

In the future, 24-dehydrocholesterol will be used as raw material to produce 25-hydroxyvitamin D3. This technology can use by-products of NF-grade cholesterol to increase profit. 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 is a high value-added D3 product, which has a promising market potential. It is not only can serve as high-efficient feed additive, but also the major raw material for all kinds of health-care products. It is revealed that the biological value of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 is three to five times as high as that of VD3 and it does not need metabolism through liver. On 1 Feb., 2014, 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 was allowed to be applied in the feed industry in China.

Currently, there are few companies which can produce 25-hydroxyvitamin D3, so Garden Bio-chemical can make full use of cost advantages to take up the 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 market in the future, and further consolidate its presence in the VD field. Only Shandong Haineng Bioengineering Co., Ltd. has the qualification for the manufacturing of this product, and its products already hit domestic market in 2014. While, in the overseas market, only DSM masters the manufacturing technique of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3, whose annual sales is around 200 tonnes. Nevertheless, DSM employs fermentation method, in which there are technological difficulties in segregation and extraction.

Actually, Garden Bio-chemical began to pay close attention to 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 very early. In 2014, the company once produced 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 through pilot-scale experiment and offered clients to trial use, receiving active responses. In Oct. 2014, the company raised funds, through an offering of stock, to construct a 100 t/a feed grade 25-hydroxyvitamin D3, and the progress rate was up to 70% by 2014.

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