The market demand for functional sugar alcohols is strong and the industry has good development prospects

Functional sugar alcohols refer to polyols containing two or more hydroxyl groups and are functional sugar subdivision products. There are many types of functional sugar alcohols, mainly including maltitol, xylitol, mannitol, sorbitol, hydrogenated starch hydrolyzate, erythritol, oligomeric isomalt, isomalt and lactitol.

Excessive sugar intake can easily harm human health, leading to chronic metabolic diseases characterized by hyperglycemia such as diabetes. According to data from the 10th edition of the “Global Diabetes Map” released by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the number of diabetic patients in my country will reach 140 million in 2021, ranking first in the world. Functional sugar alcohols have similar chemical and physical properties to sucrose, are low in calories, prevent dental caries, and do not stimulate insulin. They have great advantages in replacing sugar. As market demand continues to grow, the development space for my country’s functional sugar alcohol industry continues to expand.

Functional sugar alcohol production processes include crystallization, hydroalcoholization, hydrolysis, biological fermentation, chromatographic separation, etc. The chromatographic separation method utilizes the affinity difference between synthetic resin and sugar alcohols to separate and purify multi-component mixtures. It is a new functional sugar alcohol production process independently developed by my country. Compared with traditional functional sugar alcohol production processes, chromatographic separation has the advantages of low energy consumption, simple operation, high separation efficiency, and environmental protection, and can realize clean and automated industrial production of functional sugar alcohols.

According to the “2022-2027 China Functional Sugar Alcohol Industry Market In-depth Research and Development Prospects Forecast Report released by the Industrial Research Center It shows that sorbitol is the mainstream functional sugar alcohol product, occupying nearly 80.0% of the market share. Sorbitol, also known as sorbitol, is widely used in medicine, food processing, daily chemicals and other fields. In the pharmaceutical field, sorbitol can be used as a raw material for injections, syrups, and pharmaceutical tablets. It can also be used to prepare capsule plasticizers, traditional Chinese medicine stabilizers, pharmaceutical dispersants and other products. Driven by downstream demand, my country’s sorbitol production has shown a steady growth trend. In 2021, my country’s sorbitol production will reach 1.197 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 11.6%. The strong market demand for sorbitol brings opportunities for the development of my country’s functional sugar alcohol industry.

The functional sugar alcohol industry has a high degree of concentration. Denmark’s Danisco Group, Huakang Group, Mingyue Seaweed Group, etc. are world-renowned suppliers of functional sugar alcohols. Danisco Group entered the Chinese market in 1995. At present, Danisco (China) Co., Ltd. has become Asia’s largest and most technologically advanced functional sugar alcohol manufacturer. Industry analysts said that the huge number of diabetic patients in my country has driven an increasingly strong market demand for functional sugar alcohols. As leading companies continue to make breakthroughs in R&D technology, my country’s functional sugar alcohol industry will gain broad development prospects.