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On the morning of November 11, the world’s first production facility capable of manufacturing 10,000 tons of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) per year was inaugurated in the Daixi area of the Daishan Economic Development Zone. The first phase of construction for Dai Shan Tangneng New Materials Co., Ltd. involves an investment of 310 million yuan; it covers an area of 70 mu and is intended to build production lines capable of producing 12,000 tons per year of HMF, 2,000 tons per year of 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid, and 2,000 tons per year of polyester (PEF). The main structure of Phase 1 is expected to be completed by March next year, with equipment installation finished by June of the same year. More than 70 years ago, an American scientist discovered through experiments that 5-hydroxymethylfurfural could be extracted from biomass materials such as starch, sucrose, and lignocellulose. Since then, researchers have been working to use it as a substitute for petrochemical benzene-based raw materials, but all companies at home and abroad involved in the development of such products have so far failed to achieve mass production. It is reported that the research team at Ningbo Institute of Materials Science, through years of hard work, has overcome the challenges associated with the pilot and scale-up stages. In July 2023, Zhejiang Tangneng Technology Co., Ltd. completed the construction of a HMF production line with a capacity of one thousand tons, becoming the first in the world to achieve continuous and stable operation of such a line.