The Institute of Chemical Engineering has been awarded the highest national-level honor in China’s engineering surveying and design industry for 2025.

On November 24, the China Exploration and Design Association announced the winners of the 2025 National Outstanding Engineering Exploration and Design Awards. The engineering design project of the Institute of Chemical Engineering, “High-Resolution Photosensitive Dry Film Project for Circuit Boards by Hunan Wujiang High-Tech Materials Co., Ltd.,” was honored with the First Prize in the “Petroleum and Chemical Industry Engineering Design” category—the highest national award in China’s engineering exploration and design industry. This achievement represents a high-quality outcome of the Institute’s ongoing commitment to the development philosophy of “professionalism, focus, innovation, efficiency, quality, and excellence,” and underscores the Institute’s strong technical capabilities in the field of advanced materials engineering design.

The National Award for Outstanding Engineering Survey and Design is the highest national-level honor, aimed at promoting technological advancement in the engineering survey and design industry. This award covers multiple fields, including outstanding engineering surveys and outstanding engineering designs. It features a broad scope of evaluation, high technical standards, and strong representativeness. The criteria for selection also take into account the innovativeness, economic benefits, and social benefits achieved during project implementation—a reflection of the industry’s developmental progress. Only nine projects won the First Prize in the “Petroleum and Chemical Industry Engineering Design” category of the 2025 National Outstanding Engineering Survey and Design Awards. This project has successively won the First Prize for Outstanding Engineering Consulting Achievements in Hunan Province for 2020 and the First Prize for Outstanding Engineering Survey and Design Industrial Projects in Hunan Province for 2023. It serves as a model example among the many outstanding projects and high-quality engineering works produced by the Institute of Chemical Engineering.

The high-resolution photosensitive dry film used for printed circuit boards is a photosensitive thin film that serves as an essential consumable material in the fabrication of printed circuit boards (PCBs). It is widely employed in the microelectronics and PCB manufacturing industries, serving numerous manufacturers across various sectors—including electronics, information technology, telecommunications, healthcare, aerospace, and more. Globally, only a handful of countries have fully mastered this technology. Developed nations such as the United States and Japan have long maintained a monopoly over photosensitive dry film technology. For many years, China has been highly dependent on DuPont and Toshiba’s photosensitive dry film products. This project has successfully broken through the foreign monopoly on advanced dry film production technology, making it of significant practical importance to the development of China’s photoresist materials industry.

The high-resolution photosensitive dry film project for printed circuit boards developed by Hunan Wujiang High-Tech Materials Co., Ltd. has a planned production capacity of 297.6 million square meters of high-resolution photosensitive dry film per year. The project is equipped with control systems such as DCS, SIS, and GDS, features an MES system, and incorporates BIM and 3D modeling. Upon completion, the project will become the largest photosensitive dry film production base in China, with key performance indicators reaching domestically leading and internationally advanced levels: (1) It is one of the 35 key national projects receiving priority support under the “bottleneck” technology initiative, marking the first-ever large-scale production of domestically developed dry films. (2) The project has replaced over 40% of imported products, achieving a 40% reduction in labor costs through automation and an 18% decrease in energy consumption. (3) It has become a major supplier in both domestic and international PCB dry film markets, providing products and services to more than 80% of China’s publicly listed PCB companies as well as numerous global top-ten PCB manufacturers. (4) The RTO system achieves VOCs emission reductions of over 98%, and the wastewater recycling rate reaches 80%; the project has also been certified as a provincial-level green factory. Overall, the project’s technological level and comprehensive benefits are among the best in the domestic industry at present, making it a benchmark project for photosensitive dry films used in printed circuit boards in China.

During the project design phase, the technical team from the Institute of Chemical Engineering adheres to the following principles: “safety design as the top priority, green design as the core philosophy, innovative design as the key competitive edge, and intelligent design as the direction for future development.” Guided by technology, quality, schedule, and comprehensive services, the team works closely with the project investors and meticulously designs the project, laying a solid foundation for the construction of high-quality engineering projects. In this project’s design, we have fully embraced the concept of innovation. Through thorough research and repeated verification of various design options, we have successfully addressed numerous challenging issues—including scale-up design, equipment layout, architecture, structural engineering, HVAC, and fire protection—and have finalized an economically viable design solution that not only meets production needs and complies with relevant national standards and regulations but also minimizes investment and shortens the construction period.

As a Class-A design institute specializing in the chemical, petrochemical, and pharmaceutical industries, a provincial “specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative” enterprise, and a provincial joint graduate training base for industry-education integration, the Institute of Chemical Engineering has been deeply engaged in the fields of chemicals, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, construction, and municipal engineering for over six decades. Its qualifications and credentials rank among the leading ones within both national and provincial institutes and departments, boasting strong and time-honored technical expertise and a profound technological heritage. Its related technologies are notably “specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative,” with clear-cut characteristics and distinct advantages. The Institute holds three key technology innovation platforms: the “Provincial Enterprise Technology Center” designated by the Hunan Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, the “Municipal Electrochemical Energy Storage Materials Technology Innovation Center” established by the Changsha Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, and the “Municipal Enterprise Technology Center” accredited by the Changsha Municipal Development and Reform Commission. We believe that, under the guidance of the grand 865 strategy of China Energy Engineering Group Hunan Institute, the Institute of Chemical Engineering will continue to deepen its expertise in the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors, deliver even more innovative and high-quality projects, and wholeheartedly write a new chapter for the Institute—achieving industry leadership and becoming a first-class domestic institution!