Hồ Xuân Năng, Chairman of the Phenikaa Group Board of Directors, and Trần Vĩnh Diệu from the research team receive the first prize in materials technology. — Photo courtesy of Phenikaa Group
Phenikaa Group has been honoured at the 29th Vietnam Fund for Scientific and Technological Creations (VIFOTEC) Awards.
The group has received the first prize in materials technology with a project on researching technology and building the Phenikaa chemical plant, which produces unsaturated polyester resin (UPS) used for quartz-based engineered stone production.
This project was registered by the group and assigned as a national-level scientific research task by the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2018. After implementation, the research team successfully developed the UPS production process from laboratory scale to pilot production lines, with technical indicators meeting the requirements for engineered stone production.
Inaugurated in 2021, the Phenikaa chemical plant can supply up to 25 per cent of the total demand for UPS in the local market, making Phenikaa the first and only Vietnamese enterprise owning proprietary technology and production lines for this material. It has a capacity of 25,000 tonnes of UPS in the first phase.
A representative of Phenikaa Group said: "After more than three years of operation, the UPS production line operates stably, supplying 100 per cent of the UPS required for the group's production needs, completely replacing imported quantities, significantly contributing to the implementation of Phenikaa's material localisation strategy and controlling over 95 per cent of input materials for VICOSTONE® quartz stone production."
This helps minimise risks associated with external suppliers, exchange rate fluctuations, quality control and cost optimisation, the representative said.
With new technological advancements resulting in superior product features, Phenikaa's unsaturated polyester resin products have a competitive edge over others in regional and international markets.
In addition to providing UPS resin for high-quality quartz stone production within the group, UPS resin products can be supplied to other engineered stone manufacturers and widely applied in manufacturing fiber-reinforced composite materials such as shipbuilding, tanks, pipelines, surface coating materials and building materials, thereby expanding domestic and international business and sustainably increasing the company's revenue, the representative added.
The VIFOTEC Awards are organised annually by the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, and the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union.
The awards aim to honour practical research by scientists nationwide that enhances socio-economic efficiency, boosts enterprise production, improves productivity and quality, reduces product costs, substitutes imports and creates a technology market serving life, security and defense.
In 2024, out of 130 projects from six fields, the award committee selected 47 outstanding projects, awarding four first prizes, 10 second prizes, 16 third prizes and 17 consolation prizes.
Phenikaa also received the Outstanding Project Award from the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO - United Nations), recognising the group's innovative use of the intellectual property to commercialise and positively impact society.
The global unsaturated polyester resin market reached a total value of US$12.9 billion in 2023 and is projected to increase to $20.9 billion by 2030, with an annual growth rate of 7.1 per cent. — VNS