The pilot plant of our tall oil distillation plant located at Kakogawa, the birthplace of the company, has been designated Chemical Heritage by The Chemical Society of Japan.

"With a history encompassing 140 years, and a current membership exceeding 27,000, this is one of the most affluent academic societies in Japan, covering most areas of pure and applied chemistry, and its prime mission is to promote chemistry for science and industry in collaboration with other domestic and global societies". The status of Chemical Heritage is granted to "particularly valuable historical materials in the field of chemistry in Japan. The system was established in March 2010 with the aim of passing on these materials to future generations and contributing to the improvement and development of technology and education in the field of chemistry".

The tall oil distillation plant was built in 1958, and one year prior the company constructed a pilot plant to gather the necessary data, with various parameters being assessed over the course of 6 months. The project was a success, and it marked the establishment of Japan's first plant of this kind, together with Harima's entry into the tall oil business. It was Harima's founder, Sueyoshi Hasegawa's bold vision for technological development based on the valuable yet untapped resource of pine-derived crude tall oil, and a quarter of the company's then net sales of 400 million Japanese yen was used to literally fuel this ambitious dream.

Recent years have seen an increasing interest in SDGs around the world, with more and more biomass-based products being developed to better protect the environment. Harima has pioneered this trend back in an age when the majority of products were made using fossil fuels and started its crude tall oil (CTO) business. A by-product of the manufacturing process of pulp, CTO is pine-based and therefore environmentally friendly. The ingredients resulted during the distillation of CTO are the raw materials of our products, employed with a variety of applications for consumer and industrial goods.

The pilot plant is now located on the premises of Kakogawa Plant, and it is presented to all visitors, while at the same time serving as a constant reminder for our employees that great achievements require a forward-looking attitude and challenging spirit.

In addition, in January, Harima acquired International Sustainability and Carbon certifications, namely ISCC PLUS and ISCC EU, that cover CTO procurement and distillation, as well as manufacture and sale of the related CTO-based products. This reaffirms the sustainability and traceability of our biomass-based products, thus creating new business opportunities for the future. View the corresponding press release here:
https://www.harima.co.jp/en/newsroom/2025/0203090000.html

■Harima's Tall Oil Distillation Plant and Its Pilot Plant

■Reference Data
・The Chemical Society of Japan website:
https://www.chemistry.or.jp/en/

■Contact
Public Relations, Harima Chemicals Group, Inc.
URL:https://www.harima.co.jp/en/inquiry.php