Qidong – September 07, 2026 -- Covation Biomaterials LLC (CovationBio) has produced its first on-spec commercial batches of Xatryx.T bioTHF and Xatryx® bioPTMEG at its 50,000-ton Qidong plant, four months after the facility's mechanical completion in April 2026. The company simultaneously unveiled the world's first athletic insole made with a non-food bio-based material, developed with insole brand INSITE®, at the NW Materials Show in Portland, Oregon on September 2-3, 2026.
Qidong plant clears quality control on three molecular-weight grades
Production at the Qidong facility began in August 2026, yielding Xatryx® bioPTMEG in molecular weights of 2000, 1800, and 1000, alongside Xatryx.T bioTHF. All grades passed internal quality control testing against industry specifications. Chairman You Feifeng said the team completed equipment commissioning, process optimization, and scale-up within four months of mechanical completion, calling the on-spec results across all three grades evidence of the process technology's stability. CovationBio is now running trial sampling with downstream customers to validate drop-in performance in existing manufacturing processes.
Bio-based PTMEG targets spandex, polyurethane, and elastomer markets
Xatryx® bioPTMEG is positioned as a direct substitute for fossil-based PTMEG in spandex, polyurethanes, and thermoplastic elastomers, requiring no major process changes for adopters. The material is derived from annually renewable non-food biomass, including agricultural by-products such as corncobs, and the company states it generates lower manufacturing greenhouse gas emissions than fossil-based equivalents.
INSITE and CovationBio launch first partially bio-based athletic insole
The Portland launch introduced an athletic insole using Xatryx® bioPTMEG as its core raw material, marking the material's shift from industrial feedstock to consumer footwear. The two companies co-hosted a "Next-Generation Bio-Based Footwear Materials Application Forum" at the show to present the product to the footwear and functional fabrics industry. Dr. Zhao Mosha, Global Marketing Director of CovationBio's C4 Platform, said the move from on-spec mass production at Qidong to a finished consumer product in Portland took only a few weeks, describing it as proof that the non-food bio-based material sector can move from concept to commercial reality when raw-material producers and value-chain partners collaborate directly.