A green and intelligent manufacturing technology covering the entire polyester fiber industry chain, from raw materials to end products, won the first prize in the 2025 National Science and Technology Awards. This marks the first time the chemical fiber sector has received such recognition for a full-chain general-purpose fiber technology, signaling that China's polyester fiber industry has built an independent and controllable advanced manufacturing system, moving beyond piecemeal innovation.
Award Background and Industry Significance
At the 2025 National Science and Technology Awards ceremony held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on July 8, the project 'Key Technologies for Green and Intelligent Manufacturing of the Polyester Fiber Industry Chain,' jointly completed by Tongkun Group as the lead unit, Donghua University, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, and seven other institutions, was awarded the First Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award. At the same ceremony, Professor Elsa Reichmanis, Chair of the International Advisory Committee of Donghua University's State Key Laboratory for Advanced Fiber Materials, received the中华人民共和国 International Science and Technology Cooperation Award.
For the textile industry, a first prize in national science and technology is not unprecedented—carbon fiber technology in 2017 and digital dyeing of cheese yarn in 2014 both achieved this honor. However, this year's award focuses on polyester fiber, the 'industrial staple' that accounts for the largest share of chemical fiber production, with 70% of global capacity supplied by China. A breakthrough across the entire industry chain has direct strategic value in stabilizing the domestic industrial base and preventing industrial chain relocation.
Technical Core: Three Breakthroughs Underpin Full-Chain Autonomy
According to publicly available industry data, the project was led by Wang Huaping, a researcher at Donghua University, with deep involvement from Academician Zhu Meifang's team. After over a decade of collaborative R&D, the project addressed the strategic needs of China's polyester fiber industry chain security and international competition, achieving three core technological breakthroughs:
- Green manufacturing: Pioneered a PTA-PET direct coupling low-carbon manufacturing model, developed environmentally friendly titanium-based catalysts, invented crude oil-based chemical fiber oils and green oiling technology, and established full lifecycle green standards.
- Intelligent manufacturing: Completed full-process automation equipment upgrades, achieved large-scale domestic substitution of DCS control systems, and built an integrated process-quality intelligent manufacturing management system.
- Service-oriented manufacturing: Pioneered a 'multi-head, multi-tail' series-parallel composite polymerization technology platform, enabling differentiated polyester fiber product customization and multi-region collaborative agile manufacturing.
To date, 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 of academicians assessed the overall technology as reaching an internationally leading level.
Industrial Impact: Over 200 Billion Yuan in New Sales Demonstrates Effect
The economic benefits of the technological breakthrough are already substantial. The relevant results have been adopted by over 10 enterprises across industrial bases in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Xinjiang, generating cumulative new sales of over 200 billion yuan, profits and taxes of over 10 billion yuan, and export earnings of 1.8 billion US dollars. Industry energy consumption and defect rates have significantly decreased. Tongkun Group, leveraging the project's demonstration effect, was selected as one of the first batch of national 'Zero-Waste Enterprise' cases and was recognized as a 'National Service-Oriented Manufacturing Demonstration Enterprise' and 'National Excellent-Level Intelligent Manufacturing Demonstration Factory.'
These figures indicate that the intelligent and green upgrade of the entire polyester fiber industry chain has moved from the laboratory to large-scale replication, which will have a profound impact on cost control and supply chain stability for downstream fabric and garment enterprises.
International Cooperation: Global Brainpower Accelerates Local Innovation
The International Science and Technology Cooperation Award was presented to Professor Elsa Reichmanis. Since 2013, she has collaborated deeply with Donghua University's State Key Laboratory for Advanced Fiber Materials. Several talents jointly trained have been selected for national talent programs. The two sides have co-published 18 high-level academic papers and advanced the International Conference on Advanced Fiber and Polymer Materials into the world's largest fiber-themed academic event.
This achievement demonstrates that China's textile industry's independent innovation is not isolated but accelerates breakthroughs through the integration of global intellectual resources. For buyers, this means access to more differentiated fiber products that meet international standards.