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Good news! Jiadele has been awarded the First Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress of Guangdong Province!
Release time:
2025-08-06 10:06
Source:
In May 2025, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology issued an announcement publicly disclosing the proposed projects to be awarded the 2024 Guangdong Science and Technology Awards. The project, led by Guangdong Jiadale Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Jiadale”) and jointly completed with South China University of Technology, Jinan University, Guangdong Yantang Dairy Co., Ltd., and Ligao Food Co., Ltd., … The project “Key Technologies and Equipment for the Large-Scale Continuous Green Manufacturing and Application of Functional Lipid Ingredients Based on Fatty Acid Esters” was awarded the First Prize of the 2024 Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award. 。
Decoding the prestige of the award: How “top‑notch” is this honor?
The Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Award is the highest honor in the province’s science and technology sector, representing the utmost recognition for groundbreaking innovation and significant contributions to industry. To be eligible for the Science and Technology Progress Award, a project must meet all of the following criteria:
1. The technological innovation is remarkable, and the technical and economic indicators are advanced;
2. Through the commercialization and application of scientific and technological achievements, significant economic and social benefits have been generated.
3. Has made significant contributions to advancing technological progress in the industry and improving people’s livelihoods.
Taking this year’s awards as an example, only 29 projects across the province were granted the First Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress, yet Jiadele stood out from a field of 1,420 entries—its prestige speaks for itself! The project has been granted 45 invention patents and 22 utility‑model patents; it participated in the development of one national standard, spearheaded the formulation of three group standards and three enterprise standards, and published more than 30 high‑impact papers.
Previously, the Guangdong Food Industry Association organized an evaluation of the project’s results, with the following conclusion:
- The project has developed high-efficiency preparation technologies for single‑fatty‑acid glycerides, di‑fatty‑acid glycerides, oligoglycerol fatty acid esters, and sucrose fatty acid esters, employing solvent‑free or green‑solvent systems. It has achieved zero discharge of wastewater, exhaust gases, and waste materials, while reducing energy consumption by approximately 20% compared with conventional processes.
- A four-stage molecular distillation purification process was established to enhance the purity of monoacylglycerols. Increased from 99.2% to over 99.8% 。
- Independently developed a corrugated-plate distillation unit, a heat-exchange system, a vacuum system, and an online monitoring system. An intelligent, continuous production line for high-purity fatty acid glycerides has been built, boasting the world’s largest single‑line capacity at 100,000 tons per year. , equipped with an industrial internet platform, Achieve large-scale, digital, networked collaborative, intelligent, and green manufacturing. 。
- More than ten specialized fatty acid ester product lines have been developed for the food and chemical industries, among which… High-purity monoglyceride products have addressed the domestic market’s shortcomings in high-end ester-based additives, effectively replacing comparable imported premium-grade products. 。
The expert panel unanimously concluded that the project’s overall technical level has reached an internationally leading standard.
Three groundbreaking technologies address the industry’s critical bottlenecks.
China is a major consumer of food ingredients, and emulsifiers play a crucial role in the food industry. In 2023, the global market for food emulsifiers was valued at approximately USD 840 million, with total demand exceeding 250,000 tons; among them, fatty acid ester‑based lipid ingredients dominated the market, accounting for about 53% of the share. In China, annual production of fatty acid ester‑based lipid ingredients has reached 150,000 tons, underscoring substantial market potential.
In recent years, significant advances have been made in the synthesis of fatty acid ester-based lipid ingredients, including esterification, hydrolysis, and transesterification methods. However, The industry still faces bottlenecks, particularly in energy consumption, purity enhancement, environmental protection, and efficient utilization. Molecular distillation, as an efficient manufacturing technique, has already been industrialized in developed countries such as Europe and the United States and has become the mainstream technology for producing high-purity fatty acid ester‑based lipid ingredients. In recent years, China has employed molecular distillation to purify monoglycerides, achieving a purity exceeding 90% and enhancing emulsification performance by 3–4 times; however, gaps remain in meeting the demand for ultra‑high‑purity products and in developing environmentally friendly, green catalysts. Moreover, China continues to rely on imports in the field of enzyme‑based lipid ingredient production, with room for improvement in both synthetic efficiency and functional performance. Insufficient progress in green manufacturing and intelligent production poses significant constraints on the industry’s drive toward high‑quality development. Consequently, there is an urgent need to intensify research into green processing, low‑carbon manufacturing, and quality‑enhancing technologies for lipid ingredients, aiming to reduce carbon emissions at the source and establish clean, highly efficient production processes.
The award-winning project has achieved a series of groundbreaking results, driven by three key innovations.
Innovation Point 1: We have developed automated, intelligent green manufacturing equipment for the formulation of fatty acid ester-based lipids, upgraded the continuous production process, and built an integrated industrial Internet application platform, thereby ensuring consistent product quality and efficient production.
Innovation No. 2: By integrating artificial intelligence, we have overcome key challenges in the preparation of novel catalysts with high catalytic performance, such as lipases, and established core technologies for the precise synthesis of high-purity lipid ingredients, including oligoglycerol fatty acid esters, diglycerides, palmitic–oleic glyceride (OPO), and sucrose monoesters.
Innovation Point 3: Conduct an in-depth analysis of the multi-scale structure–property relationships of fatty acid ester‑based lipid ingredients, develop key technologies for structural regulation and synergistic formulation, and overcome technical bottlenecks in their application to plastic fats, meat products, dairy foods, and beverages.
Deep integration of industry, academia, and research enables rapid translation from the “laboratory” to the “production line.”
Jiadele has joined forces with Jinan University, South China University of Technology, and other universities to establish a research and development team. Cumulative R&D investment has exceeded RMB 200 million, and after 12 years of effort, 17 core technologies have been successfully mastered. Among these, the enzyme‑catalyzed synthesis technology jointly developed with Jinan University has shortened the production cycle of oligoglycerol fatty acid esters by 40%; meanwhile, the postdoctoral innovation and practice base co‑established with South China University of Technology has overcome the limitations of conventional equipment capacity, yielding 45 authorized invention patents and contributing to the revision of one national standard.
The project’s innovative achievements were applied in 2018 and 2020, respectively, to multiple products of Guangdong Yantang Dairy Co., Ltd. and Lighao Food Co., Ltd., effectively enhancing product firmness and emulsification performance, improving emulsion stability, flavor, and mouthfeel, and thereby boosting the two companies’ incremental sales revenue and profits.
Since 2018, Jiadle’s products have gradually gained acceptance in overseas markets, obtaining international certifications such as FDA, FSSC, HALAL, and KOSHER. They are now sold in more than 100 countries and regions across Europe, the Americas, Oceania, South Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, with renowned clients including domestic and international companies such as Jinfa Technology, Wahaha, Yili, Sinian, L&S Liansu, and Cargill. In 2023, Jiadele Company’s monoglyceride products led the domestic market with a 44.88% share and ranked second globally, holding a 23.43% global market share.
From “catching up” to “leading the way,” ushering in the “China era” for ester-based materials.
During the implementation of the project, Jiadele, A green, intelligent manufacturing technology for ester-based additives—enabling high‑efficiency conversion and high‑purity products—has been developed, thereby addressing the critical gap in China’s high‑end market. 。
First, by leveraging computer-aided design of key industrial enzymes, we developed an enzyme‑molecular design approach grounded in multiscale computational modeling and artificial intelligence, thereby substantially enhancing the efficiency of green enzyme‑based manufacturing.
Secondly, a key technology for precise process control in the preparation of high-purity fatty acid glycerides was developed, with the optimal immobilized enzyme carrier and an optimized immobilization method identified. In addition, the multi‑nuclear metal cluster catalyst ZnTAC24 and the green solvent Cyrene were introduced to replace conventional catalysts and polar solvents, enabling the efficient and environmentally friendly synthesis of high‑purity ester‑based additives. Furthermore, an innovative crystalline‑form stabilization process for fatty acid ester‑based lipid ingredients was established, defining a crystalline‑form regulation strategy that delivers outstanding storage stability, superior whipping performance, and a refined mouthfeel.
The implementation of the project is for Enhancing the technological and application capabilities of China’s food emulsifier and chemical auxiliary industries, and breaking down international technological barriers, holds significant strategic importance and has yielded substantial social and economic benefits.
As National “Little Giant” Enterprise Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative , Jiadele has been deeply engaged in ester-based materials for 20 years and has successively built National Green Factory, Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center, Postdoctoral Innovation and Practice Base This time, Jiadele’s award follows… “25th China Patent Excellence Award,” “National Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative Key ‘Little Giant’ Enterprise,” “Second/Third Prize of the Guangdong Science and Technology Awards” Subsequently, another milestone‑level honor was bestowed. This not only recognizes JiaDeLe’s 20 years of innovation but also epitomizes China’s breakthroughs in the high‑end fine chemicals sector, marking a pivotal shift from import dependence to self‑reliant, controllable capabilities in the field of advanced ester‑based additives.
When “green manufacturing” meets “Made in China,” Jiadale, a “little giant” rooted in Guangdong, is leveraging technology to drive industrial upgrading and delivering an inspiring transformation—from a follower to a leader. Looking ahead, Jiadale will continue to advance Chinese ester‑based materials onto the global stage, guided by its unwavering commitment to craftsmanship.
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