Recently, reporters learned from the Nylon Chemical Company that the catalyst used in a key stage of 1,6-hexanediol production has been fully replaced with domestically produced alternatives. This move has significantly reduced the cost of catalyst raw materials by 50%, while maintaining a product conversion rate consistently above 99.9%. This performance markedly exceeds both the industry standard of 99.5% and the company’s internal control target of 99.8%, marking an important breakthrough for the company in achieving independent control over core materials and optimizing production processes.

The production line at the company’s No. 4 Chemical Plant successfully completed trial runs at the end of December 2023. It utilizes a British process package and is equipped with imported catalysts, placing it in a state of “technological bundling.” The purchase price of these imported catalysts is high, and the supply cycle exceeds six months. To ensure production continuity, the company has been forced to stockpile large quantities of these catalysts, which not only ties up substantial capital but also exposes the company to the risk of reduced catalyst activity due to prolonged storage.

To completely break free from its dependence on foreign suppliers, the company launched a special research and development initiative focused on domestically produced catalysts in October 2024. The company’s Technology Center laboratory has established a collaborative R&D team with a domestic catalyst manufacturer to develop alternative R&D solutions.

In the early stages of R&D, the conversion rate of domestically produced catalyst samples was only 60% to 70%, far below the level required for industrial-scale applications. Through three major technological optimizations and iterations of the catalyst formulation and preparation process, the R&D team successfully boosted the conversion rate step by step to over 90%.

In March 2025, the domestically produced catalyst entered the stage of batch operational trials, during which the R&D team systematically evaluated its stability and durability under various operating conditions. After six months of rigorous monitoring and data comparison, in September of the same year, all performance indicators of the domestically produced catalyst fully met production requirements. In November of the same year, the domestically produced catalyst was officially introduced into the phase of full-scale promotion and application.

Currently, domestically produced catalysts have been deployed on a large scale and are operating stably at the No. 4 Chemical Plant, delivering outstanding performance. Compared with imported products, domestically produced catalysts offer rapid supply response and greater flexibility in price negotiations. “We no longer need to maintain high inventory levels, which has significantly eased our financial pressure and reduced the burden of warehouse management. At the same time, we’ve completely eliminated the risk of quality degradation caused by long-term storage. This not only boosts production efficiency but also enhances the resilience and security of our supply chain, thereby improving our product’s competitiveness in the market,” said Xue Jiping, Deputy Director of the No. 4 Chemical Plant of the company.