γ-Caprolactone is a food additive and the market has certain room for development.

γ-Caprolactone is a colorless to light yellow liquid in appearance, with herbal aroma, sweet aroma and caramel aroma. It is a spice that naturally exists in fruits such as pineapples and peaches, as well as in milk and cheese. It can also Artificially synthesized, mainly used as flavors and fragrances. γ-Caprolactone is acidic, unstable in alkaline media, very slightly soluble in water, and soluble in ethanol, propylene glycol, oils, etc.

The content of γ-caprolactone in fruits and dairy products is limited, and it is difficult to extract. It is mainly produced by artificial synthesis methods. The main methods for artificially synthesizing γ-caprolactone are: using ethylene oxide and sodium malonate as raw materials, and making it through reaction; using tin/zinc/tin dichloride, concentrated hydrochloric acid, and acetic acid solution at 85°C It is obtained by medium reduction of sorbic acid; it is obtained by using propanol and methyl acrylate as raw materials, adding di-tert-butyl peroxide and reacting; it is obtained by using butyraldehyde and malonic acid as raw materials through condensation, decarboxylation, cyclization and other processes. .

According to the “2022-2026 γ-Caprolactone Industry In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestion Report” released by the Industrial Research Center As a flavor and fragrance, γ-caprolactone can be used in food, cosmetics and other fields, such as coumarin modifier, lavender flavoring agent, fruit, cream, honey, caramel, vanilla beans, tobacco etc. Flavors, essences, etc. Food additives are an important downstream market for γ-caprolactone and can be widely used in the processing and production of baked goods, desserts, beverages, cold drinks, candies, tobacco, etc.

In my country’s national food safety standard catalog, γ-caprolactone is allowed to be used as a food additive, and the standard number is GB 1886.144-2015. my country’s population is huge. As the national income level increases and consumption power increases, the market demand for food continues to increase, and the trend of diversified demand is obvious, driving the consumption of food additives to continue to rise. In 2021, my country’s food additive market size will be around 200 billion yuan, showing a steady growth trend in the past five years. As a kind of food additive, γ-caprolactone has a large market space.

Huaye Flavors is one of the representative enterprises in my country engaged in the research, development, production and sales of ester synthetic fragrances. γ-Caprolactone is one of its main products. In the first three quarters of 2021, Huaye Flavors’ main operating income was 173 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.78%. In the “National Standard for Electronic Cigarettes (Second Draft for Comments)” released by the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration in March 2022, γ-caprolactone was included in the “white list” of permitted aerosol additives, as γ-caprolactone. The development of lactone industry brings benefits.

Industry analysts said that γ-caprolactone is a synthetic flavor and fragrance, mainly used as a food additive in baking. , beverages, candy, tobacco and other industries are widely used. There are many types of food additives, and in food processing and production, the amount of addition is small, and the demand for a single type of food additive is limited. Although my country’s food industry is huge, the γ-caprolactone market is small, and there are already leading companies in the superimposed industry. , if new entrants do not have obvious competitive advantages, they will have less room for development.