Polyester Fiber Full-Industry-Chain Technology Breakthrough: Tongkun Group Wins National First Prize in Science and Technology Progress, Reshaping Chemical Fiber Landscape with Green Smart Manufacturing
The 2025 National Science and Technology Awards were announced, marking a historic moment in the textile chemical fiber sector. The project 'Key Technologies for Green and Smart Manufacturing in the Polyester Fiber Industry Chain,' led by Tongkun Group as the primary unit and jointly developed with Donghua University, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, and seven other institutions, won the First Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award. This is the first time general-purpose fiber full-industry-chain technology has reached this top honor since the carbon fiber breakthrough in 2017, signaling China's chemical fiber industry's formal shift from following to leading.
Background
China produces 70% of the world's chemical fibers, with polyester fiber ranking first among all types, earning it the title of the 'industrial staple' of textiles. However, the industry has long faced shortcomings in green and low-carbon production, smart manufacturing, and customized differentiation. The winning project, led by Donghua University researcher Wang Huaping as the first completer and deeply involving academician Zhu Meifang and her team, addressed strategic needs for industrial chain security and international competition after over a decade of collaborative research. Leveraging Donghua University's State Key Laboratory for Advanced Fiber Materials and integrating expertise from materials science, textile technology, information intelligence, and mechanical engineering, the project built an independent and controllable advanced manufacturing system.
Industry Impact
The project's core technological breakthroughs span three dimensions. In green manufacturing, it pioneered a PTA-PET direct coupling low-carbon production model, developed environmentally friendly titanium-based catalysts and engineering applications, invented crude-oil-based fiber oil agents and green oiling technology, and established full-lifecycle green standards for polyester fibers, enabling a complete low-carbon production pathway. In smart manufacturing, it completed full-process automation upgrades, achieved large-scale domestic replacement of DCS control systems, and built an integrated smart manufacturing system for process and quality control, forming a replicable 'China solution' for industrial upgrading. In service-oriented manufacturing, it created a 'multi-head multi-tail' series-parallel composite polymerization technology platform, establishing a modular digital linkage system for polymerization, spinning, and texturing processes with a 'one-head three-tail' multi-point addition approach, enabling specialized customization of differentiated polyester fiber products and multi-region collaborative agile manufacturing.
To date, the project has formed a complete independent intellectual property system including 76 authorized invention patents, 10 software copyrights, and 14 national and industry standards. An expert panel of academicians assessed the overall technology as reaching the international leading level. The results have been deployed in industrial bases in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Xinjiang, as well as over 10 other industry units, generating cumulative new sales exceeding 200 billion RMB, profits and taxes over 10 billion RMB, and export earnings of 1.8 billion USD, while significantly reducing industry energy consumption and defect rates. As the leading unit, Tongkun Group leveraged the project's demonstrative effect to be selected among the first batch of national 'Zero-Waste Enterprise' cases and recognized as a 'National Service-Oriented Manufacturing Demonstration Enterprise' and 'National Excellent Smart Manufacturing Demonstration Factory.'
Simultaneously, Professor Elsa Reichmanis, chair of the International Advisory Committee of Donghua University's State Key Laboratory for Advanced Fiber Materials, received the People's Republic of China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award. A member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Inventors, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she has deeply collaborated with Donghua University since 2013 on joint graduate training, scientific research, and talent development. Several co-trained individuals have been selected for national talent programs, and the partnership has produced 18 high-level academic papers and one monograph. She has served as the academic committee chair for the 9th to 12th International Conference on Advanced Fibers and Polymer Materials, helping it become the world's largest fiber-themed academic event.