Kolon Industries announced Wednesday it received the IR52 Jang Yeong-sil Award for its eco-friendly high-performance spunbond at a ceremony held Tuesday at the Peace & Park Convention in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. From left: Lee Min-ho, research team leader; Choi Jin-hwan, unit leader; Choi Yang-ho, production team leader; and Choi Hyun-jun, senior managing director in charge of the business. [Kolon Industries]
Kolon Industries announced Wednesday it received the IR52 Jang Yeong-sil Award for its eco-friendly high-performance spunbond at a ceremony held Tuesday at the Peace & Park Convention in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. From left: Lee Min-ho, research team leader; Choi Jin-hwan, unit leader; Choi Yang-ho, production team leader; and Choi Hyun-jun, senior managing director in charge of the business. [Kolon Industries]

Kolon Industries announced Wednesday it had won the IR52 Jang Yeong-sil Award for its eco-friendly, high-performance spunbond — a long-fiber nonwoven fabric.

The IR52 Jang Yeong-sil Award is South Korea's most prestigious industrial technology honor, hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT. Since 1991, it has recognized research organizations that have developed new-technology products or achieved outstanding results in technological innovation.

The ceremony was held Tuesday at the Peace & Park Convention in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Key executives and staff who led the product's development attended, including Senior Managing Director Choi Hyun-jun, Research Team Leader Lee Min-ho and Production Team Leader Choi Yang-ho.

Spunbond is a polyester long-fiber nonwoven fabric that helps textile products maintain their shape. It is used in filters, automotive carpets and seat reinforcements, and architectural drainage materials.

The high-performance spunbond developed through Kolon Industries' proprietary technology maintains equal tensile strength in both the horizontal and vertical directions while keeping uniform spacing between fibers, delivering world-class durability.

The material also resists shrinkage, expansion and delamination under sharp changes in temperature and humidity, and its superior workability allows it to be easily molded into curved or complex shapes.

The technology had previously been held only by a handful of global chemical companies. Kolon Industries succeeded in localizing this high-value-added technology through its own research and development capabilities.

In addition, Kolon Industries has developed a high-performance spunbond made entirely from recycled raw materials. Using recycled inputs is expected to cut carbon emissions during production by up to about 43 percent compared with conventional processes.

The achievement strengthens Kolon Industries' technological self-reliance and independent competitiveness in the high-performance nonwoven fabric sector, where dependence on foreign technology had been high. The company plans to use the award as a springboard to accelerate its push into global markets, leading with products that combine eco-friendliness and high performance.

"This IR52 Jang Yeong-sil Award recognizes the high-performance materials technology and eco-friendly innovation capabilities that Kolon Industries has built up," President Heo Seong said. "We will continue to raise industrial competitiveness through differentiated materials development and keep securing future growth engines."


keg@heraldcorp.com