China's textile and chemical fiber industry reached a historic milestone in the 2025 National Science and Technology Awards. A comprehensive technology achievement covering the entire polyester fiber industry chain won the prestigious First Class prize, signaling a shift from scale-driven growth to technology-system-driven dominance.
Technological Breakthrough: From Single-Point Innovation to Full-Chain Integration
The award-winning project, 'Key Technologies for Green and Intelligent Manufacturing in the Polyester Fiber Industry Chain,' was led by Tongkun Group in collaboration with ten institutions including Donghua University and Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. Unlike previous textile award winners focused on specialty fibers or single equipment, this project targeted polyester fiber, which accounts for over 70% of China's chemical fiber output.
The project achieved breakthroughs in three dimensions. In green manufacturing, it pioneered a direct PTA-PET coupling low-carbon model and developed eco-friendly titanium-based catalysts, replacing traditional heavy metal catalysts. In smart manufacturing, it completed full-process automation upgrades, achieving large-scale domestic substitution of DCS control systems. In service-oriented manufacturing, it created a 'multi-head, multi-tail' series-parallel composite polymerization platform, enabling flexible production of differentiated products on the same line.
The project has formed a complete IP system with 76 authorized invention patents and 14 national/industry standards. Expert panels assessed the overall technology as internationally leading.
Industrial Impact: The Logic Behind 200 Billion RMB in New Sales
Data shows the project's results have been deployed across industrial bases in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Xinjiang, involving over ten companies. Cumulative new sales exceed 200 billion RMB, with profits and taxes over 10 billion RMB and export earnings of 1.8 billion USD.
For buyers and downstream fabric manufacturers, this means significantly improved supply stability and quality consistency. In traditional polyester production, batch-to-batch variations in dyeing performance and strength were common. The smart manufacturing system's integrated process-quality control has slashed defect rates. In demonstration plants, the premium product rate rose by nearly 5 percentage points, reducing return losses for high-end fabric producers.
Energy consumption also improved. The direct-coupling low-carbon model eliminates intermediate pelletizing and drying steps, cutting comprehensive energy consumption per ton by about 15%. This provides a replicable cost-reduction path for chemical fiber companies under China's dual-carbon goals.
Open Ecosystem: The Signal from the International Cooperation Award
Professor Elsa Reichmanis from Lehigh University, a member of the International Advisory Committee of Donghua University's State Key Laboratory for Advanced Fiber Materials, received the International Science and Technology Cooperation Award. Since 2013, she has collaborated deeply with Donghua, helping develop the International Conference on Advanced Fiber and Polymer Materials into the world's largest fiber-themed academic event.
This award reflects the open innovation approach in China's textile technology development. Polyester fiber upgrades are not a closed domestic substitution but absorb cutting-edge methodologies from the global research network. Reichmanis's expertise in photoresists and flexible semiconductors offers cross-disciplinary insights for intelligent and functional fiber materials.