Wuhan’s first pilot-scale public service platform in the chemical industry – the Wuhan Chemical New Materials Pilot Testing Base – was established in Qingshan District

Thread Content

Connected on one end to the laboratories of the \"Nanmu Fifth Institute\" and on the other end to the industrial clusters in the chemical industry park, Wuhan’s first pilot-scale testing platform for public services in the chemical sector – the Wuhan Chemical New Materials Pilot Testing Base – was established on March 31 in Qingshan District. On that day, Qingshan District held the 2026 Science and Technology Innovation Conference; 6 innovation platforms, including the Wuhan Chemical New Materials Pilot Testing Base, were inaugurated at the same time. An innovation ecosystem that spans from laboratories to pilot production lines and then to full-scale production lines was thus established in Qingshan District. The pilot testing base for new chemical materials is located in the Chemical Industry Park in Qingshan District, covering a total area of about 385 mu, with a total investment of around 1.2 billion yuan. It consists of both a pilot testing facility and an incubation center. The first phase of the pilot plant facility includes an operation and maintenance management center, an analysis and testing center, a control center, a power workshop, and pilot plant buildings, etc. It is scheduled to be completed and put into use by mid-next year, and it will be able to accommodate 80–100 pilot projects. “Qingshan has the city’s only compliant chemical industrial park, and the pilot testing base for new chemical materials located there in Qingshan is a natural and logical development. ”Kang Yihong, executive dean of Wuhan Zhongke Advanced Technology Research Institute, the partner responsible for operating the pilot testing base for new chemical materials, explained that after undergoing two to three years of pilot testing and overcoming the challenges related to industrialization, the projects will be moved to the incubation base for mass production. New projects will take their place, allowing for a continuous cycle of development. “University researchers are familiar with research and development, but they may not be well-versed in the safety and environmental management aspects of the chemical industry, and they might have never been involved in site renovation projects. ”Kang Yihong said that the pilot testing base will provide comprehensive, round-the-clock support in areas such as safety, environmental protection, process technology development, and customized workshop modifications, enabling researchers to focus fully on their research and development work. At present, the pilot testing base for new chemical materials has accumulated dozens of pilot projects. The projects included in this database come from the \"Nanmu Five Institutes\" such as the Wuhan Institute of Photochemical Technology, the Wuhan University of Science and Technology Institute of Advanced Metallurgy and Intelligent Equipment, the Central South Minzu University Foton High-Tech Institute of Chemical New Materials Industry Technology, the Hubei University Institute of Biomanufacturing Industry Technology, and the Huazhong University of Science and Technology Institute of Advanced Polymer Materials Industry Technology; there are also projects from universities such as Wuhan University of Technology, Sichuan University, and Northwestern Polytechnical University. The Hubei University Biomanufacturing Pilot Base, inaugurated on that day, builds on the first batch of **-level biomanufacturing pilot capacity development platforms – namely Hubei University’s “Synthetic Biology Intelligent Biomanufacturing Pilot Platform” – to foster the development of the biomanufacturing industry. Li Aitao, deputy dean of the School of Life Sciences at Hubei University, explained that in November last year, the Hubei University Biomanufacturing Industry Technology Research Institute was established in Qingshan. The institute is working on transforming hundreds of laboratory achievements; for example, \"industrial strains\" are used to convert straw into \"bioethanol\", which can then be used as aviation fuel, a raw material for chemicals, or even as a substitute for petrochemical products ； Using Escherichia coli to produce green nylon materials solves the problems associated with the traditional chemical synthesis of nylon, such as high pollution, high energy consumption, and high costs. “The pilot plant and the research institute work together to establish a comprehensive technology innovation system that spans from basic research to industrial application. Leveraging the synergies of the upstream and downstream clusters in the Qingshan chemical industry, it helps to facilitate the successful transformation of scientific and technological achievements by school teachers. ”Li Aitao said. Nanmu Area in Qingshan District is one of the 33 key renewal zones in the city; a \"science and innovation forest\" is emerging from the old factories. On the same day, the Wuhan University of Science and Technology Qingshan Science and Technology Park, the Qingshan District Silicon Steel Materials R&D and Application Joint Laboratory, the China State Construction Third Engineering Bureau Qingshan Laboratory, and the Nanmu Science and Innovation Service Center were also inaugurated.