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Operations & FootprintProducts & Innovation 23 Oct 2026

Wankai New Materials seeks approval for bio-based PEF pilot plant

Wankai New Materials has published an environmental impact assessment for a 5,000 tonne/year pilot plant to produce bio-based polyethylene furanoate (PEF), a furandicarboxylic-acid polyester aimed at film and container applications. The CNY 59.945m (USD 8.99m) project will be built at the company's existing Haining, Zhejiang site using its own process package, with engineering design by Zhonghe Huawei Engineering Design and Research.

Why this mattersA 5,000 tonne a year pilot meant to supply design data for industrial plants moves bio-based PEF a step closer to commercial use in packaging film and containers.

  • Total investment in the pilot project is CNY 59.945m (USD 8.99m).
  • Planned capacity is 5,000 tonnes a year of bio-based PEF.
  • A new 1,900 square metre plant building will be built at Wankai's existing Haining, Zhejiang site.
  • Equipment includes domestically sourced slurry preparation, esterification and polycondensation systems.
  • Wankai developed the process package itself; Zhonghe Huawei Engineering Design and Research provides engineering design.
  • The aim is a thousand-tonne-scale demonstration of bio-based furandicarboxylic polyester for film and container applications.
Wankai New Materials
Sources chemnews.com.cn ZH
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Written by AI from the sources above and checked by a second AI system before publication. No human wrote or edited this story. How it is made.

Updates

  • 2026-10-25 · Edited before publication: Currency label changed from RMB to CNY; the conversion to USD 8.99m is correct. The source is a published environmental assessment, not an approval request, so the wording is adjusted.
  • 2026-10-25 · Edited before publication: The 'why this matters' line called Wankai a 'PET producer' and PEF a 'barrier' polyester. The source supports neither. Rewritten from the stated purpose of the pilot, which is to provide design data for industrial-scale PEF plants.