The 50,000-ton/year caprolactam-to-adipamide production facility at Xuyang Group’s Yuncheng plant has been fully commissioned

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At 6:18 on May 4, 2026, with the successful completion of the final production step, the 50,000-ton-per-year caprolactam-to-adipamide production facility at Xuyang Group’s Yuncheng plant was fully operational; the plant started up successfully and produced qualified products. The direct production of hexamethylenediamine from caprolactam breaks the long-term foreign monopoly on hexanitride technology – a key raw material for producing hexamethylenediamine, the intermediate used in the manufacture of Nylon 66, and which is considered the ‘vital link’ in the Nylon industry chain. By overcoming this critical technical barrier, Xuyang is able to develop high-end new materials, gradually build an industrial cluster for Nylon 6, Nylon 66, and specialty nylons on a scale of millions of tons, and lay the foundation for establishing a premier industry base for new Nylon materials. Industry background and current development: Adipic acid is an important raw material that underpins the upgrading of the nylon-based new materials industry. Innovations and breakthroughs in its production technologies hold great significance for the development of China’s chemical industry. Although the current industry process of producing adiponitrile from butadiene and then converting it into adipamide is technically mature, it has significant drawbacks: on one hand, due to fluctuations in the price of butadiene as a raw material, production costs remain high ； On the other hand, the processes are complex, the technical barriers are extremely high, and the key core patents have long been monopolized by foreign companies. Against this backdrop, Xuyang Group took a unique approach by carrying out independent research and development to create new technologies and processes for directly producing hexamethylenediamine from caprolactam. This enabled it to break the industry monopoly, overcome key technical barriers, and open up new paths and methods for hexamethylenediamine production. Xuyang’s R&D journey and innovative achievements: As the world’s largest independent coke producer and supplier, as well as a leading enterprise in the global differentiated coal chemical industry, Xuyang Group closely aligns with strategic requirements and accurately grasps trends in industrial transformation. As early as 2011, it took a forward-looking approach by making strategic arrangements for the caprolactam industry. While expanding its production scale, it also established an R&D team to conduct independent research on new processes and technologies related to caprolactam and its downstream industries. Over the past decade or so, the R&D team at Xuyang has continuously optimized the process through over a thousand pilot-scale experiments. They have steadily progressed to the construction and stable operation of a pilot plant, and further intensified their efforts to achieve full-scale industrial implementation. Throughout the process of pilot testing, pilot scale production, process development, and industrialization, over a hundred challenges were addressed, resulting in dozens of core patents with complete independent intellectual property rights. Ultimately, an innovative process for directly producing hexamethylenediamine from caprolactam was successfully developed. The R&D team demonstrated through their actions the Asahi 4 Yang 4 spirit of \"going all out, persevering relentlessly, never stopping, and being determined to succeed.\" Given the disruptive, cutting-edge, and pioneering strategic value of this achievement in independent innovation, Shandong Province has designated Xuyang Group’s project as a key provincial project. The completion and commissioning of the Adipic Acid project, which leverages Xuyang’s core industrial strengths and competitive advantages, fully demonstrates the company’s capabilities in industrial synergy and research & development innovation. This has significantly enhanced Xuyang’s core competitiveness in the field of new nylon materials, thereby consolidating and elevating its leading position in the chemical industry. 1. Stable and efficient industrial collaboration: The stable operation of the adipic acid production facility, along with its full capacity utilization, will enable efficient coordination with the group’s existing 810,000 tons per year caprolactam production chain, as well as the upstream production lines for adipic acid, cyclohexanone, nitric acid, etc., located in the Yuncheng industrial park. This will facilitate resource sharing, technological upgrades, increased production capacity, and the maximization of operational efficiency. Xuyang Group possesses a solid industrial foundation in the aromatic hydrocarbons industry chain. Starting from pure benzene, moving on to caprolactam and then to hexamethylenediamine, it is possible to extend this industry chain further downstream to high-value sectors such as sheet production, spinning, weaving, injection molding, modification, and polyurethanes. This approach helps to accelerate the development of a complete industry chain for nylon 6, nylon 66, and specialty nylons, encompassing upstream raw materials, midstream monomers, and downstream products. 2. Continuous R&D and innovation: The process of directly producing hexamethylenediamine from caprolactam offers significant advantages over traditional processes, such as a simplified process flow, lower investment costs, higher safety, and a higher conversion rate of raw materials. Both the process and the catalyst are proprietary intellectual properties of Xuyang, breaking through the technical barriers related to key raw materials for new polyamide materials at home and abroad and filling a gap in China’s industry. 3. Continuous process optimization to reduce costs, along with the use of low-cost raw materials: Xuyang Group’s technology for producing adipic acid directly from caprolactam results in significantly lower production costs per ton compared to the butadiene method; in the future, it will be possible to further reduce operating costs through a combination of research and development and production efforts. As the world’s second-largest producer of caprolactam, Xuyang Group benefits from scale advantages, advantages in its industrial chain, as well as a comprehensive set of supporting facilities, all of which enhance the cost competitiveness of its adipamide products. Xuyang’s future plans and development strategy: Focusing on the upstream and downstream aspects of caprolactam, Xuyang Group has developed and secured a range of technologies and products, including hexamethylenediamine and elastic nylon. As its core technologies continue to improve and become more stable, Xuyang will expand its operations further, thereby injecting new momentum into China’s nylon 66 industry and related sectors. Looking to the future, Xuyang Group will continue to rely on innovation as a driving force for progress and on service as a catalyst for development. It will further deepen its vertical integration strategy, focus on high-end chemicals and new materials, and work to strengthen its portfolio in this field. The group is committed to helping China overcome technical barriers in the chemicals and new materials sector, to building a modern industrial system that is self-sufficient and under effective control, and to achieving domestic substitution for key materials such as nylon 66, thereby contributing to Xuyang’s role in this endeavor.