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Kitakawa Lab
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A lab that creates fuels and functional materials from biomass that would otherwise be thrown away.
AboutAbout the lab
Creating value from discarded resources.
The Kitakawa Lab develops technologies for real-world use, centered on kinetic analysis that combines reaction and separation engineering with information science.
Its main focus is biomass resources that current industries discard in large quantities.
The lab designs processes that turn this biomass into functional materials for food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals, as well as biofuels.
It also handles everything needed for practical use, including equipment development, scale-up, and the building of control systems.
Key terms
- Kinetic analysis
- Studying how fast a chemical reaction proceeds, expressing it in equations, and using the results in process design
- Biodiesel fuel
- A diesel fuel made from animal or plant oils and alcohol that can replace diesel oil
- Ion-exchange resin
- A resin in the form of tiny beads that can capture or swap specific components in a liquid
NewsLab news
A master's student won the Best Student Award at the Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan, Hachinohe Meeting
Prof. Kitakawa and colleagues won the EXPO2025 JPO-WIPO AWARD in the Women's Empowerment category
A master's student won a Poster Award at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Japan Oil Chemists' Society
The Center for Practical Process Development and Innovation was established, and Prof. Kitakawa was appointed its director
A master's student won two awards for a poster presentation at the 2025 AOCS Annual Meeting
ResearchResearch themes
The lab develops technologies aimed at real-world implementation, centered on kinetic analysis that combines reaction and separation engineering with information science. Because it works on problems that are holding back progress toward a sustainable society, its research targets are wide-ranging.
*Illustrative imageContinuous Production of Biodiesel Fuel
Biodiesel fuel is made from plant or animal oils and alcohol. Current synthesis methods use an alkali as the catalyst, which produces soap and lowers fuel quality. The lab proposes a synthesis method that uses ion-exchange resin as both catalyst and adsorbent. It evaluates the quality of fuels made from various feedstocks using a continuous production system that carries out fuel synthesis and byproduct separation at the same time.
*Illustrative imageEfficient Recovery of Vitamin E Compounds
Vitamin E compounds, which have strong antioxidant activity, are sensitive to heat, and conventional molecular distillation has suffered from low recovery rates. The lab proposes an adsorption–desorption method using ion-exchange resin, which selectively recovers them under mild conditions, at atmospheric pressure and room temperature, and allows them to be concentrated and extracted.
*Illustrative imageSuppressing Lipid Oxidation
The shelf life of many foods containing lipids is determined by the deterioration of flavor caused by oxidation. Focusing on the behavior of the reactive oxygen species that govern oxidation, the lab predicts lifetime with mathematical models that combine kinetics and statistical processing, and develops methods to suppress oxidation efficiently.
*Illustrative imageEnvironmentally Friendly Selective Oxidation
Oxidation makes up about 30% of chemical processes, but oxidants with a high environmental burden are often used. Focusing on green oxidation with oxygen and water, the lab works on designing catalytic reactions that promote only the targeted oxidation, and on controlling the reactive oxygen species generated in water exposed to plasma.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Kitakawa Lab are faculty, research fellows, administrative and technical assistants, and master's and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorNaomi Kitakawa
- Associate ProfessorAtsushi Takahashi
- Assistant ProfessorKosuke Hiromori
- Project ProfessorTadahiro Fujitani
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Ion exchange resin beads” Bugman at English Wikipedia / Public domain (cropped)
- Continuous Production of Biodiesel Fuel: “Biodiesel-2” Biodiesel.JPG: Shizhao拍摄 derivative work: Hic et nunc (talk) / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Efficient Recovery of Vitamin E Compounds: “Rice bran” Palagiri / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Suppressing Lipid Oxidation: “ApricotSeedOil” Itineranttrader / Public domain (cropped)
- Environmentally Friendly Selective Oxidation: “Filamentous Dielectric Barrier Discharge” Devansh.sharma / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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