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In the third quarter of 2026, the domestic special organosilicon additive sector achieved a landmark industrial breakthrough: a continuous production unit for block-type high-activity epoxy polyether silicone oil with a designed annual capacity of 32,000 tons officially completed a 168-hour full-load steady-state operation assessment. For the series of products produced by this unit, the molar ratio of epoxy groups can be precisely adjusted in the range of 1.5% to 18%, the ratio of ethylene oxide/propylene oxide in the polyether segments can be customized and matched according to downstream requirements, the surface tension deviation of products from different batches is controlled within ±0.2mN/m, and the hydrolysis stability at 25°C exceeds 24 months. All core performance indicators have reached the international leading level. This achievement marks that China has completely ended the history of long-term dependence on imports for high-end block-type epoxy polyether silicone oil, providing fully independent and controllable core functional additive support for key fields such as high-end textile functional finishing, new energy lithium battery electrolyte additives, water-based coating leveling, and agricultural organosilicon synergists.
Epoxy polyether silicone oil is one of the sub-categories with the highest technical barriers in the sequence of organosilicon polyether copolymers. By simultaneously introducing epoxy active groups and polyether hydrophilic segments on the main chain of the polysiloxane molecular chain, the material combines the low surface tension and high and low temperature resistance of organosilicon, as well as the hydrophilic emulsification and reactivity of polyether segments. It is the core bridge material connecting organosilicon materials and the water-based industrial system. Different from the widely circulated common graft-type epoxy polyether silicone oil in the market, the molecular chain of block-type high-activity epoxy polyether silicone oil presents a regular directional arrangement structure of "polysiloxane-polyether-epoxy group". The exposure rate of reactive sites of epoxy active groups exceeds 96%, and the molecular chain scission rate in extreme acid-base environments is less than 0.3%. It is the core basic raw material for preparing high-end wash-resistant textile softeners, low-impedance film-forming additives for lithium batteries, and high-slip water-based coating leveling agents. For nearly 25 years, the domestic industry has long used the traditional intermittent hydrosilylation process to produce epoxy polyether silicone oil, and has been unable to break through three common industry technical bottlenecks for a long time. First, the epoxy groups are extremely prone to ring-opening side reactions during the hydrosilylation process, resulting in a long-term fidelity rate of active groups of products below 65%, and extremely poor uniformity of cross-linking reactions during downstream applications. Second, the grafting randomness between the polyether segments and the siloxane main chain is extremely strong, which is very prone to local molecular agglomeration, leading to delamination and turbidity of the product in low-temperature environments, with a storage stability of less than 6 months. Third, the surface tension deviation of products from different batches has long been higher than 1.8mN/m, which completely cannot meet the scenarios that have extremely high requirements for additive performance consistency, such as high-end precision coating and lithium battery electrolyte. Previously, more than 94% of the market share of block-type high-activity epoxy polyether silicone oil used in domestic high-end textile and new energy lithium battery fields was monopolized by leading overseas enterprises. For special specification products involving power batteries and high-end functional fabrics, the procurement price is 9 to 14 times that of domestic ordinary epoxy polyether silicone oil, and the delivery cycle of special customized grades can be as long as 14 months. Some products involving core new energy scenarios have long faced the risk of export control, which has seriously restricted the technological iteration speed of domestic downstream high-end new material industries.
The new continuous production process that has achieved full production this time has corely overcome three technical problems that have plagued the global organosilicon additive industry for decades. First, a controllable hydrosilylation system with directional protection of epoxy groups was pioneered. The R&D team abandoned the traditional idea of directly mixing and reacting hydrogen-containing silicone oil and epoxy-terminated polyether, and independently developed a new platinum-based coordination catalyst. In 13 series-connected microchannel reaction units, the directional addition of silicon-hydrogen bonds and polyether terminal olefins was realized. At the same time, the online closed-loop temperature control system controls the temperature fluctuation throughout the reaction process within ±0.5°C, which avoids the ring-opening side reaction of epoxy groups from the source of the reaction. The fidelity rate of epoxy active groups is increased from 62% of the traditional process to 97.2%, which fundamentally solves the long-standing industry pain point of sudden viscosity increase and local gelation that easily occur in the production of high-activity epoxy polyether silicone oil. Second, the world's first seven-stage coupled devolatilization and purification system for epoxy polyether silicone oil systems has been built. Aiming at the industry problem that unreacted monomers and residual small-molecule catalyst residues generated during the reaction process are difficult to completely remove, the team innovatively adopted a combined purification process of "two-stage thin film devolatilization + three-stage continuous extraction + supercritical fluid deep refining + ion exchange resin impurity removal". The operating temperature throughout the process is strictly controlled below 75°C, which completely avoids the thermal decomposition of epoxy groups at high temperatures. The residual small molecule content in the final product is less than 12ppm, and the platinum metal residue is less than 0.1ppm, which is far lower than the average residual level of 320ppm of traditional process products, fully meeting the most stringent requirements of lithium battery electrolyte for the metal impurity content of additives. Third, a full-process millisecond-level real-time closed-loop quality control system has been built. The entire production unit, covering monomer pretreatment, hydrosilylation, purification and refining, and finished product blending, is equipped with online Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and online real-time surface tension detection modules. The system samples and analyzes the epoxy group content, polyether segment distribution, and surface tension parameters of the reaction system in real time every 6 seconds. Once the parameters have a tiny deviation at the 0.03% level, the system automatically completes the adjustment of dynamic flow rate and reaction parameters, completely eliminating the product performance difference between different reactors in the traditional intermittent process, and realizing that the surface tension deviation of products from different batches across 42 months is less than 0.2mN/m with zero performance drift.
At present, this independently developed ultra-high-purity block-type high-activity epoxy polyether silicone oil has completed long-term industrial application verification for more than 36 months in multiple core high-end downstream fields. In the field of high-end textile functional finishing, the wash-resistant amino-modified organosilicon softener prepared with this product has a 57% improvement in cross-linking reaction uniformity. After 100 times of industrial washing, the softness retention rate of the fabric reaches 93%, and the yellowing index is only 0.4, far lower than the 2.5 required by industry standards. Related products have been fully and batch applied on the production lines of multiple domestic high-end outdoor functional fabrics and high-end home textile brands. In the field of new energy lithium batteries, this low-metal impurity epoxy polyether silicone oil, as a film-forming additive added to the lithium battery electrolyte, can form a dense SEI film with high elasticity and low impedance on the negative electrode surface, increasing the cycle life of the lithium battery from the original 1200 times to 2100 times, and the discharge capacity retention rate at -40°C low temperature is increased from 48% to 76%. Related products have been widely used in the electrolyte system of the new generation of 4680 large cylindrical power batteries in China. In the field of water-based industrial coatings, the high-slip leveling agent prepared with this product as the core raw material can reduce the surface tension of water-based polyurethane coatings to 21.2mN/m, and the friction resistance of the coating is increased to 12,000 times. After 1500 hours of salt spray test, the coating does not peel off or lose gloss, and has been fully applied in the water-based original paint coating production lines of domestic high-end new energy vehicles. In the field of agricultural organosilicon, the pesticide synergist prepared with this product can increase the spreading area of pesticide liquid on plant leaves by 8 times, extend the rain wash resistance time of the liquid to more than 4 hours, and increase the effective utilization rate of pesticides by 45%, greatly reducing the usage of chemical pesticides.
According to the latest industry operation monitoring data, the market demand for domestic high-end block-type epoxy polyether silicone oil in 2026 increased by 294% year-on-year compared with the same period in 2025. With the official launch of this domestic continuous production line, the market pattern where overseas products have long monopolized the market has been completely broken. The market procurement price of high-end block-type epoxy polyether silicone oil has dropped by 73% year-on-year, and the delivery cycle for core downstream users has been greatly shortened from the original 14 months to less than 7 days. With the subsequent start of construction of the second production line of the same scale, it is expected that by 2028, the global market share of domestically produced high-end epoxy polyether silicone oil will exceed 81%. It will not only fully meet the upgrading needs of domestic downstream industries such as textiles, new energy, coatings, and agriculture, but also greatly enhance the core voice of China's special organosilicon functional additives in the global high-end new material industrial chain, and build a solid core material foundation for the innovative development of the entire hundred-billion-yuan downstream end-product industry.
