【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Equipment】China’s first and largest production line for polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) with a capacity of 10,000 tons was established between 2030 and 2026

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Let’s give praise and support to the achievements made in China’s chemical engineering technology and equipment; your participation in discussions is the greatest encouragement. **********************【Ten Years of Progress in Chemical Engineering Equipment】A continuously updated summary post is available – feel free to join the discussions: https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3576046-1-1.html ***************** During the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum held recently, Beijing Microstructure Workshop Biotechnology Co., Ltd. officially announced that, through joint efforts by Tsinghua University and Microstructure Workshop, China’s first and largest production line for polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) with a capacity of 10,000 tons has been successfully established. PHA is a natural polymer material synthesized by microorganisms, featuring full biobasis, the ability to degrade naturally in marine and soil environments, and excellent biocompatibility. It is regarded as an ideal material to replace traditional petroleum-based plastics and address \"white pollution\". However, its industrialization has faced difficulties for decades; the core bottleneck lies in the fact that traditional production strains are extremely delicate, requiring a strictly sterile environment during fermentation, as well as large amounts of fresh water and energy, which results in consistently high production costs. Faced with this global challenge, a team led by Professor Chen Guoqiang, director of the Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology at Tsinghua University, took a different approach and identified an extreme halophilic microorganism named “Halomonas” from Lake Ayding in Xinjiang – a scorching salt lake where the surface temperature can reach 80 degrees Celsius. Using synthetic biology techniques, the research team developed \"Next-Generation Industrial Biotechnology\" (NGIB) on their own, enabling the fermentation process to use seawater directly without the need for strict sterilization, thereby reducing production costs by over 40%. Technological breakthroughs have cleared the way for industrialization. In 2022, Microstructure Workshop built a thousand-ton-scale \"synthetic biology flexible manufacturing line\" in Shunyi, Beijing” ； In 2023, Weiqi Biology was established as a joint venture with the global yeast giant Anji Yeast, with a PHA production facility capable of producing 30,000 tons per year to be built in Yichang, Hubei. By 2025, the first phase of this project, with an annual production capacity of 10,000 tons, will go into operation, becoming China’s first PHA production line with such a capacity. Aiming to build a \"global-class biomanufacturing + intelligent manufacturing flagship factory,\" this production line integrates industrial 4.0 technologies to a high degree, with an automation rate of 90%, in order to achieve a 30% increase in production efficiency and another 30% reduction in costs. https://mmbiz.qpic.cn/mmbiz_jpg/Ju1bPysu4epKGCnwNKv93nNjvhUKBWVPlQLkwHaqFgAvmZceGj5WSyVxfKgRc9Jw7dVssiaAvpQ5v78wW6jcNl8nYsibwp6vZG89doRV20HLw/640?wx_fmt=jpeg&from=appmsg#imgIndex=2 Image | PHA production lines with a capacity of tens of thousands of tons. At present, Microstructure Factory is the company in the world that is able to mass-produce the largest number of different types of PHA products (74 types in total), and it has obtained certifications for food-contact materials in China, the European Union, the United States, and other regions. It is the first company in the world to sell PHA products in the markets of China, the United States, and the European Union simultaneously. With the commissioning of the 10,000-ton production line in Yichang, China’s PHA production capacity has joined the world’s top tier. During the conference, a signing ceremony for the achievements of collaborative innovation in the bio-based water-based dispersion industry chain was held, and the \"Bio-based Polymer Paper-based Barrier Developers Alliance\" was officially established. Tsinghua University, Microstructure Workshop, Dubai City Group, and BASF China signed the agreement as representatives, marking a significant step forward in the practical application of the collaborative innovations developed by these parties in PHA coating technology. https://mmbiz.qpic.cn/sz_mmbiz_jpg/AWPVmZdksbiahCibtnhsiaUjtqdI9B2vU5mDSZKxsH6gzu8WzRyK5v2sBfcviaWRF1rE5ObBRN0wd7KHf0iaJ8mQGlRSyRYetC9VZCDBrj9yJ8uU/640?wx_fmt=jpeg&from=appmsg&tp=wxpic&wxfrom=5&wx_lazy=1#imgIndex=4 Image | Experts in the PHA raw materials industry note that the establishment of this 10,000-ton production line has enabled full independent innovation across the entire chain – from strains to processes to equipment – with complete independent intellectual property rights; this has broken through the long-standing patent monopolies held by Europe and the United States in terms of industrial microbial strains and core processes. More importantly, it outlines a unique paradigm for China’s biomanufacturing industry – through efficient collaboration among government, academia, industry, research institutions, capital, and end-users, the cutting-edge basic research conducted at Tsinghua University, the market-oriented operations and rapid industrialization capabilities of Microstructure Factory, as well as the manufacturing and distribution advantages of companies such as Angel Yeast, all contribute to this breakthrough. With the further implementation of environmental protection policies such as the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), the global packaging industry’s demand for bio-based, biodegradable materials continues to rise. The establishment of a 10,000-ton PHA production line not only signifies that this environmentally friendly new material, regarded as the \"ultimate solution\" to plastic pollution, can now be manufactured on a large scale at low costs, but it also represents China’s remarkable transformation in the field of synthetic biology industrialization – from developing original underlying technologies to becoming a global leader in this industry.