1. Introduction of vitamin b3
Vitamin B3, also known as vitamin PP, includes nicotinamide and niacin.
The essential downstream application of vitamin B3 is feed, accounting for 67%; followed by pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, and food, accounting for 20% and 13% respectively.
1.1 Niacin
Niacin, CAS 59-67-6, the molecular formula is C6H5NO2, molecular weight 123.11. Also known as nicotinic acid, vitamin B3, anti-lactation factor, good thermal stability, can sublimation, industry often uses the sublimation method to purify niacin. The appearance of niacin is a white crystal or white crystalline powder that can be solved in water.
1.2 Nicotinamide
Nicotinamide (niacinamide), cas 98-92-0, chemical formula C6H6N2O molecular weight 122.13. Also known as nicotinamide, it is an amide compound of nicotinic acid. It is a white crystalline powder; odorless or almost odorless, bitter taste; slightly hygroscopic. It is easily soluble in water or ethanol and dissolves in glycerol.
2. vitamin b3 manufacturers
At present, the manufacturers of vitamin B3(niacin and nicotinamide) are Lonza Group Ltd, Vertellus, Anhui Redpont Biotechnology Co., Ltd(niacinamide), Brother Enterprises Holding Co., Ltd, Shandong Hongda Biological Technology Co., Ltd, Vanetta ltd(niacin), Jubilant Ingrevia Limited, Zhejiang Lanbo Biotechnology Co., Ltd(niacinamide), Tianjin Zhongrui Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Resonance Specialties Limited, Lasons India Pvt. Ltd.
Currently, the global nominal production capacity of vitamin B3 exceeds 150,000 tons, with serious overcapacity and increased competition.
2.1 Lonza Group Ltd
Lonza Group Ltd, which includes Lonza Switzerland and Lonza China, has the largest total production capacity.
2.2 Vertellus
Vertellus is a well-established US vb3 producer.
2.3 Anhui Redpont Biotechnology Co., Ltd
Anhui Redpont Biotechnology Co., Ltd is a national key high-tech enterprise of biopharmaceuticals, which integrates scientific research, manufacturing, and domestic and foreign markets, with “medicine, health and animal nutrition, and health care” as its main business. The company has built a whole industrial chain with an annual output of 40,000 tons of nicotinamide, which not only breaks the monopoly of multinational companies on vitamin additives, but also becomes the basic support and strategic guarantee for the development of “three drugs” (pesticide, medicine, and veterinary medicine), food, feed and cosmetics in China, and its original biotechnology has created a new path for the development of the industry. The original biotechnology has created a new road of a new mode, new technology, and new industry with low cost, high efficiency, and zero pollution.
2.4 Brother Enterprises Holding Co., Ltd
Brother Enterprises Holding Co., Ltd was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Haining City, Zhejiang Province. After years of development, it has grown into an international chemical group with four business divisions, including dermatology, vitamins, fragrances, and APIs, and several wholly-owned subsidiaries, with professional production bases in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Newcastle, South Africa. Their vitamin products include vitamin k3, vitamin b1, calcium pantothenate, and vitamin b3.
2.5 Shandong Hongda Biological Technology Co., Ltd
Founded in 2004, Shandong Hongda Biological (Group) Technology Co., Ltd is a state-level high-tech enterprise and a national postdoctoral research station that uses dried potatoes and corn as raw materials to produce ethanol and downstream products. The group’s products are food-grade glacial acetic acid, amine products, piperidine, sorbic acid (potassium sorbate), pyridine, 3-cyanopyridine, nicotinamide, and so on.
2.6 Vanetta ltd
Vanetta is a brand of manufacturing vitamins in China that belongs to Yinhe Chemical Company. Mianyang Vanatta Chemical Industrial Company (MYVC) dedicates to manufacturing feed grade Vitamin K3 with a maximum annual output of 1800 tons; Mianyang Vanetta Pharmaceutical Technology Company dedicates to manufacturing Niacin (Vitamin B3) with a maximum annual output of 6000 tons which the first phase of the project (3000 tons) was completed and put into use in 2011.
2.7 Zhejiang Lanbo Biotechnology Co., Ltd
Zhejiang Lanbo Biotechnology Co., Ltd is located at No. 16 Shidai Road, Haining Economic Development Zone, Zhejiang Province, located in the Hangjiahu Plain-Qiantang River in the Yangtze River Delta, 120 kilometers east of Shanghai and 60 kilometers west from Hangzhou. The company has successfully established an advanced microbial catalytic technology for the industrial production of nicotinamide. Compared with the traditional process, this technology has obvious advantages such as high purity, less pollution, and almost no residue of heavy metals, and other impurities. As a major global supplier of nicotinamide, the company specializes in producing different specifications of nicotinamide with an annual output of 6000 tons.
2.8 Tianjin Zhongrui Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd
Tianjin Zhonghui Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd is a high-tech enterprise specializing in the production of chemical raw materials, medicinal excipients, and food additives. It was established in March 2004 with a registered capital of 26 million yuan. The company’s main products nicotinic acid, nicotinamide, inositol nicotinate, terazosin hydrochloride, clopidogrel sulfate, fasudil hydrochloride, and dopamine hydrochloride obtained GMP certificates.
2.9 Jubilant Ingrevia Limited
Ingrevia is born out of a union of ‘Ingredients’ and ‘Life’ (‘Vie’ in French). Jubilant Ingrevia Limited is committed to offering high-quality and innovative life science ingredients to enrich all forms of life.
Jubilant Ingrevia, is a global integrated Life Science products and Innovative Solutions provider serving, Pharmaceutical, Nutrition, Agrochemical, Consumer, and Industrial customers with our customized products and solutions that are innovative, cost-effective, and conforming to excellent quality standards.
2.10 Resonance Specialties Limited
Resonance Specialties Limited is a pioneer in Pyridine chemistry and one of the few manufacturers of the product in the world. The company, formerly known as Armour Polymers Limited, was the first in India to manufacture Pyridines. Resonance is also one of the largest manufacturers of lutidines in the world.
2.11 Lasons India Pvt. Ltd
Lasons India Pvt. Ltd traces its roots back to 1979. It was in the year 1984 the company took the first step in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical bulk drugs in India. Today Lasons is one of the leading producers of Vitamin B3 (Niacin & Niacinamide). The company has been successful in placing itself in the international marketplace as a reliable and preferred supplier for both Niacin and Niacinamide (Vitamin B3).
3. The production method of vitamin b3
The main raw material of vitamin b3 is 3-methyl pyridine, which is reacted to produce 3-cyanopyridine, and finally, niacin and nicotinamide are obtained. The production process flow is as follows.
Acetaldehyde + formaldehyde + ammoniacal pyridine –> 3-methylpyridine
3-Methylpyridine –> nicotinic acid
3-Methylpyridine –> 3-Cyanopyridine –> Nicotinamide
80% of the supply of 3-methylpyridine comes from the manufacturers of pyridine. Pyridine is a companion to the production of 3-methylpyridine, which is mainly used in the production of paraquat pesticide, and since 2016, the global ban on paraquat, the supply of pyridine has decreased, and likewise, the price of 3-methylpyridine has increased, resulting in a subsequent increase in the price of vitamin b3.
4. Some vitamin b3 manufacturers’ technological innovation
Anhui Redpont Biotechnology Co., Ltd insists on building projects and developing the economy around an “ecological chain, product chain, and circular economy chain”, and has five major disruptive advantages, one is the advantage of “technical barrier” of industrialization with independent intellectual property rights of the whole industry chain, the original “Chemical-enzyme cascade nicotinamide production technology”.
Shandong Hongda Biological Technology Co., Ltd has built the industrial chain of “cassava-ethanol-acetaldehyde – pyridine – nicotinamide” with cassava as raw material.
Zhejiang Lanbo Biotechnology Co., Ltd successfully created the advanced technology for industrial production of nicotinamide by microbial catalytic method, which has the obvious advantages of high purity, less pollution, and almost no heavy metal and other impurity residues compared with the traditional process.
5. Summary
The main manufacturers of vitamin b3 are Lonza, Vertellus, Anhui Redpont Biotechnology Co., Ltd(nicotinamide), Brother Enterprises Holding Co., Ltd, Shandong Hongda Biological Technology Co., Ltd, Vanetta ltd(niacin), Jubilant Ingrevia Limited, Zhejiang Lanbo Biotechnology Co., Ltd(nicotinamide), Tianjin Zhongrui Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Resonance Specialties Limited, Lasons India Pvt. Ltd. Among them, Lonza has the largest production capacity. Overall, the supply far exceeds the demand.
The main raw material for the production of vitamin b3 is 3-methylpyridine. There are some manufacturers with innovative production technology, such as Anhui Redpont, Shandong Hongda, and Zhejiang Lanbo.
