The chemical fiber industry achieved a historic full-chain breakthrough in the 2025 National Science and Technology Awards. On July 8, the 'Key Technologies for Green and Smart Manufacturing in the Polyester Fiber Industry Chain' project, led by Tongkun Group and ten other entities including Donghua University, won the first prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award. This marks the first time in years that the award has been granted to a full-chain technology for general fibers, signaling that China's autonomous chemical fiber technology system has evolved from single-link leadership to systematic maturity.
Industrial Logic Behind the Full-Chain Breakthrough
Polyester fiber, as the 'industrial staple' of textiles, accounts for over 70% of China's total chemical fiber output, with China producing 70% of the global chemical fiber. This scale means technological upgrades affect not only industry profits but also the cost and quality of downstream products like fabrics and garments. While previous awards covered niche areas like carbon fiber and smart dyeing, this systemic award for polyester fiber indicates that comprehensive solutions from raw materials to finished products and standards have gained top recognition.
The project's core breakthroughs span three dimensions: in green manufacturing, it pioneered a PTA-PET direct-coupling low-carbon model, developed eco-friendly titanium-based catalysts, and established full-lifecycle green standards; in smart manufacturing, it achieved domestic replacement of DCS control systems, creating a replicable upgrade blueprint; in service-oriented manufacturing, a 'multi-head multi-tail' polymerization platform enables customized product development and multi-region collaborative production. This 'triple-pillar' architecture directly addresses long-standing pain points of high energy consumption, slow product switching, and heavy environmental pressure.
Collaborative Innovation's Demonstration Effect and Economic Impact
The project was led by Donghua University researcher Wang Huaping, with deep involvement from CAS academician Zhu Meifang's team, along with Tongkun Group and other leading companies, after over a decade of R&D. It has generated 76 authorized invention patents, 10 software copyrights, and 14 national/industry standards. Results have been deployed in industrial bases in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Xinjiang, as well as over 10 enterprises, driving cumulative new sales exceeding 200 billion yuan, profits and taxes over 10 billion yuan, and export earnings of 1.8 billion USD.
For downstream buyers, this means more stable and lower-cost polyester raw material supply, while green manufacturing standards will force upstream suppliers to upgrade environmental processes. For foreign trade companies, the 1.8 billion USD export earnings indicate the technology system is globally competitive, potentially offering a differentiated edge as European and American markets tighten low-carbon requirements.
Open Innovation Signal from International Cooperation Award
The concurrently announced International Science and Technology Cooperation Award was given to Professor Elsa Reichmanis of Lehigh University, who has long collaborated with Donghua University's State Key Laboratory for Advanced Fiber Materials, co-training talent and advancing the International Conference on Advanced Fiber and Polymer Materials into the world's largest fiber-themed academic event. This award signals that China's textile industry remains committed to open innovation alongside autonomy, especially in frontier cross-disciplinary fields like semiconductor materials and flexible electronics, where international collaboration remains essential for overcoming 'bottleneck' technologies.