The awarding of a first prize in the National Science and Technology Progress Award has brought the autonomous capabilities of the massive polyester fiber industry chain into the spotlight. On July 8, the 2025 National Science and Technology Awards were announced, with the project 'Key Technologies for Green and Intelligent Manufacturing of the Polyester Fiber Industry Chain,' led by Tongkun Group in collaboration with Donghua University and Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, claiming this top honor. This marks another landmark breakthrough in the textile chemical fiber sector, following the 2017 carbon fiber and 2014 intelligent dyeing awards.
The Industrial Logic Behind the Technological Breakthrough Polyester fiber is known as the 'industrial staple' of the textile industry, with China producing 70% of the world's chemical fibers, of which polyester fiber ranks first. This means its technological upgrade not only affects the industry itself but also directly impacts the alleviation of the grain-cotton land conflict, prevention of industrial chain relocation, and improvement of downstream product quality. The core breakthroughs of the award-winning project focus on three dimensions: in green manufacturing, it pioneered a PTA-PET direct coupling low-carbon model, introduced environmentally friendly titanium-based catalysts, and established a full lifecycle green standard; in intelligent manufacturing, it achieved large-scale domestic substitution of DCS control systems, forming a replicable industrial upgrade plan; in service-oriented manufacturing, it realized modular customization and multi-regional collaboration for differentiated products through a 'multi-head multi-tail' polymerization technology platform.
According to public data, the project has formed a complete intellectual property system including 76 authorized invention patents, 10 software copyrights, and 14 national and industry standards. An expert panel has determined the overall technology to be at the international leading level. For buyers and factories, this means the supply stability and quality consistency of polyester fiber will be backed by stronger underlying technology.
The Economic Impact of Industrial Implementation The value of technological breakthroughs ultimately lands on the industrial side. According to publicly available industry data, the relevant achievements have been promoted in industrial bases in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Xinjiang, and at over 10 enterprises, cumulatively generating over 200 billion yuan in new sales, over 10 billion yuan in profits and taxes, and $1.8 billion in export earnings. More notably, the project has significantly reduced industry energy consumption and defect rates. Tongkun Group, for example, has been selected as one of the first batch of national 'Zero-Waste Enterprise' models and recognized as a 'National Service-oriented Manufacturing Demonstration Enterprise.'
For textile foreign trade companies, the maturity of this technology system means the upstream raw material side will have stronger cost advantages and green certification capabilities. Especially as the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism gradually takes effect, the establishment of a full lifecycle green standard for polyester fiber provides traceable low-carbon backing for downstream product exports.
The Implicit Push from International Cooperation Alongside the first prize, the International Science and Technology Cooperation Award was granted to Professor Elsa Reichmanis from Lehigh University. She has long collaborated with Donghua University's State Key Laboratory for Advanced Fiber Materials, jointly training talents, publishing papers, and promoting international conference development. Although her primary research field is semiconductor materials, her role as a bridge in international fiber discipline exchanges reflects the deep alignment of China's textile industry with global frontiers in basic research.
This path of 'self-reliance with open cooperation' echoes the breakthrough in the entire polyester fiber chain. From 2012 to 2020, 28 achievements in the textile field have received National Science and Technology Awards, covering special fibers, intelligent equipment, and green dyeing. This first prize further completes the multi-layered technology system from basic materials to terminal equipment and from process innovation to green transformation.