Innovation Empowers a Better Life

The growth of global population and the improvement of living standards have created new challenges and demands on human nutrition, health, and sustainable development. As a leading fine chemical enterprise, NHU always insists on innovation-driven development, providing high-quality and low-carbon-footprint nutrition, aroma chemicals, and new materials for human life. Innovation is rooted in our DNA. We provide sustainable solutions for the nutrition, health and quality life of all human beings through the R&D of new products and the application of new technologies. We strive to realize the mission of exploring chemicals, improving life.

Research Activities

Based on the core technology platform of “chemical +” and “biology +”, and driven by the market demand, we carry out targeted research, gain insights into the market trend, develop forward-looking R&D pipeline, and pursue innovation at multiple levels of science, “science + technology” and “technology + application”. Meanwhile, based on bulk raw materials, we build an integrated industrial chain, a structured product network, and a coordinative industrial ecology to constantly expand the family of fine chemical products. Leveraging our cost-effective products and service solutions, we create lasting value for our clients.

Resources and Circulation

The Recycle System of Natural Ecosystem-- Traditional production is a linear one-way process of “resource-product-emission” that is essentially an extensive and disposable utilization of resources. The “resource-product-renewable resources” loop based on natural ecosystem is the key method to solve the contradiction between limited resources and growing demand caused by the booming global population. At NHU, we take reduction, resource utilization and hazard-free of natural resources as the guiding principles. We convert basic chemicals to high value-added functional chemicals through integrated, serialized, and large-scale product mix and R&D. We upgrade the atom economy of chemical reaction by optimizing the technological process. The by-products can be used in the production of other chemicals or sold as a part of the value chain, so as to save resources and make full use of the waste. This is how we maximize the yield of valuable products with the minimal resource input.

Nutrition and Health

Secure Nutrition and Health of People--Nutrition is decisive to human health and development. According to WHO research, nearly 149 million children are too short for their age and 45 million children are too thin. However, 1.9 billion adults are overweight. We take human nutrition and health as the starting point and endeavor to address two of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: zero hunger, good health and well-being. Through technological innovation, we have successively completed the R&D of a series of products in a wide range, including vitamins, coenzyme Q10, lycopene and beta carotene. Our products are used to mitigate nutritional deficiency of children, enhance adult immunity, slow down aging, and prolong human life. Animal-source foods, including meat, eggs, aquatic products, and dairy products, are important sources of protein, fat and vitamins for humans. NHU offers scientific solutions for human health and animal farming. Our products, such as vitamins, methionine, astaxanthin and cantharidin, are added into the premix and feed, which can significantly improve animal immunity and meat quality, thereby providing high grade animal protein for human life.

Climate and Energy

A Sustainable Future--The use of oil, coal and natural gas has greatly promoted the development of modern industry, but also brought environmental issues. Now, we are working to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels through the transition from non-renewable energy to renewable energy and from petrochemical-based chemicals to bio-based green products. To achieve the goal of “carbon emission peak and carbon neutral”, NHU is committed to providing scientific and green solutions. By developing innovative process, we constantly reduce the carbon footprint, energy consumption and COD emission from our products. To reduce the dependence on non-renewable chemical sources, we use sustainable raw materials for the production of green and healthy nutritional products via our “Bio+ and Chem+” technology platform.

Innovation Achievements

NHU has constantly made breakthroughs in key technologies and undertaken over 50 national, provincial, and ministerial projects. NHU won the Second Prizes of the National Award for Technological Inventions for two times and the First Prizes of Provincial and Ministerial Industry Associations for eight times and Special Award of China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation. Until now, we have 332 granted patents in China and 77 granted patents overseas. Among them, we won one Gold Prize and one Silver Prize of WIPO-CNIPA Award. We presided over and participated in the formulation of 51 national, industrial and group standards. In order to reward scientists who have made significant contributions to green chemistry and excellent young researchers who have completed their doctoral dissertation defense, NHU and IUPAC have jointly established an award in the field of green chemistry. This award, “IUPAC-Zhejiang NHU International Green Chemistry Progress Award”, introduces and spreads the winners’ contributions on promoting green chemistry to more researchers. Since 2009, we have set up NHU Scholarship in Beijing University of Chemical Technology. In 2015, another NHU Scholarship has been set up in Zhejiang University to reward students who pursue excellence, dare to innovate, and love scientific research. NHU encourages them to play a pioneering role in learning and scientific research and make contribution to social development.

Innovation Environment and Capability

Based on the basic and prospective research on chemistry, NHU continuously increases the investment in innovation, upgrade the hardware and software for R&D, promote academic research with the traction of the industry, and actively build professional platforms of generic technologies, such as chemical analysis, separation, and catalysis. We continue to ramp up the transformation toward an innovation-led organization that focuses on basic research of technologies with talents as its core. Such capabilities are helping us to lay a foundation for strong industrial development.

Technology Exchanges and Cooperation

Our R&D concept is “demand-oriented development with synergy across functions and coordination with partners”. We work with innovative pioneers and integrate research resources around the world. We have successively cooperated with top domestic and international universities and research institutes, including Zhejiang University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Danish biotechnology companies. We jointly carry out prospective and applied research in chemistry and study major scientific and technological issues of common interest around the world and critical fundamental issues in industrial development. These efforts have allowed us to promote industrial transformation and to upgrade with technological innovation.We extend industrial chain and optimize value chain via the cooperation with our partners. By benchmarking against leading players in the industry, we learn from each other to solve problems and hit growth targets.We are looking forward to exchanging and cooperating with more universities, research institutions and enterprises from home and abroad.