On April 9, the groundbreaking ceremony for the third phase of China Pingmei Shenma Group’s Aisian 100,000-ton hexanediol nitrile project and the commissioning ceremony for the first phase of its Edian 200,000-ton adiponitrile project were held in the Pingdingshan Nylon New Materials Development Zone. This milestone marks a coordinated breakthrough in addressing the “chokepoint” challenge surrounding critical raw materials in China’s nylon-66 industrial chain. As a result, China Pingmei Shenma Group has become the world’s only enterprise that independently masters both adiponitrile and hexanediol nitrile—two core technologies—thereby providing crucial support for the independent controllability and strategic security of China’s nylon industry.

　　Adiponitrile is the core raw material for producing high-performance nylon 66 and is often referred to as the “industrial chip” of the chemical industry. For a long time, its production technology has been monopolized by international giants, severely hindering China’s independent development of new nylon materials.

　　Guided by national strategic needs and the overarching goals of industrial development, China Pingmei Shenma Group has steadfastly pursued independent innovation and achieved breakthroughs on two fronts: first, it has successfully developed a direct hydrocyanation process for butadiene to produce adiponitrile, thereby breaking foreign technology blockades; second, it has pioneered a novel route that uses caprolactam as a feedstock for ammonolytic dehydration to produce aminocaproitrile, effectively substituting for adiponitrile and establishing an industry structure driven by both adiponitrile and aminocaproitrile. This dual-engine approach ensures the security of the nation’s nylon industry chain and supply chain by securing technological self-reliance at the source.

　　The newly commissioned 200,000-ton-per-year adiponitrile (Phase I) project at AdiAn has a total investment of RMB 1.874 billion. It employs the direct butadiene hydrocyanation process, which is recognized as the world’s leading technological route for adiponitrile production. This process offers significant advantages, including low raw-material costs, low energy consumption, high economic viability, and environmental friendliness, with near-zero waste emissions throughout the production cycle. It aligns closely with China’s “dual carbon” goals and the requirements for green chemical development.

　　During the R&D process, the Group’s research team successfully mastered several core technologies, including the efficient application of adiponitrile catalysts, the preparation of high-purity hydrogen cyanide with robust safety controls, and advanced fractional distillation and separation. These breakthroughs have enabled full process integration and in-house control, resulting in a comprehensive proprietary intellectual property portfolio and scalable, replicable industrialization expertise. Currently, the project is operating stably and efficiently, with product purity reaching 99.9% and performance metrics on par with international best practices, fully capable of replacing imported alternatives.

　　As a major research project for the Group, the aminohexanenitrile initiative has achieved breakthroughs of unprecedented scale over many years: from breaking through technical barriers in 2020, to the completion and commissioning of Phase I and Phase II projects, and then to the commencement of construction on Phase III—thus successfully shattering the long-standing technological monopoly held by international industry giants. With a total investment of RMB 870 million, Phase III leverages iterative technological upgrades and employs a third-generation pressurized process, enabling a qualitative leap from “single-point breakthrough” to “systemic leadership.” The technology boasts fully independent intellectual property rights and delivers multiple competitive advantages in terms of performance, cost efficiency, and technological generational advancement. Upon completion, the project is expected to deliver substantial economic benefits, further strengthening China’s strategic security buffer for the supply of core nylon raw materials.

　　With the successive setbacks of two major projects, China Pingmei Shenma Group will anchor itself in the position of “global leader in the nylon new-materials industrial chain,” swiftly establishing a core raw-material supply capacity of over 500,000 tonnes per year for nylon 66. This will underpin the development of a million-ton-scale nylon 66 industrial cluster, help build the “China Nylon City” into a hundred-billion-yuan-level industrial cluster, continuously consolidate China’s leading position in the global nylon industry, and inject robust momentum into the construction of a modernized national industrial system.