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In August 2026, a major industry breakthrough in the green technology innovation of hydrogen-containing silicone oil production was officially achieved: the new generation of hydrosilylation process based on a new non-precious metal photoinitiated catalytic system has completed the full-process industrial verification. On the premise that all product performance indicators fully meet the standards, it has achieved remarkable results of 40% reduction in reaction energy consumption and 70% reduction in catalyst cost, completely breaking the long-standing industry path that the downstream modification process of hydrogen-containing silicone oil relies on platinum-based precious metal catalysts, opening up a new direction for the low-carbon and low-cost transformation of the entire hydrogen-containing silicone oil industry. As the core reaction most widely used in the field of organic silicone synthesis, hydrosilylation is the core link connecting hydrogen-containing silicone oil and thousands of functionalized organic silicone products. This process innovation will not only directly reconstruct the cost structure of the entire organic silicone new material industry, but also greatly accelerate the technological iteration speed of related downstream industries.
For a long time, the technological upgrading of hydrosilylation reaction has always been the core R&D direction of the global organic silicone industry. Although the traditional platinum-based catalytic system has the advantages of high catalytic efficiency and strong selectivity, platinum metal is a scarce strategic resource with limited global reserves and long-term high price fluctuations, which not only greatly increases the production cost of downstream modified products, but also brings a series of industry pain points such as high difficulty in catalyst recovery and precious metal residue in the production process. In the past decades, scientific research teams in the global industry have been constantly exploring new catalytic systems to replace traditional platinum catalysts, but it has always been difficult to find a perfect balance among catalytic activity, selectivity and industrial implementation feasibility. Related technologies have long stayed in the laboratory stage and cannot achieve large-scale industrial application.
The new non-precious metal photoinitiated catalytic system realized in this industrial landing adopts the combined formula of acylphosphine oxide and cuprous halide, which can efficiently trigger the hydrosilylation reaction under the irradiation of a specific wavelength of ultraviolet light. The selectivity of β-addition products can reach 99.2%, completely avoiding the common α-by-product generation problem in traditional platinum catalytic systems. The new reaction system completely gets rid of the dependence on precious metals, the procurement cost of the catalyst is 70% lower than that of the traditional Karstedt platinum complex system. At the same time, the reaction process does not need to maintain the traditional high temperature condition of 80~120℃, and the entire reaction can be completed at room temperature. The overall production energy consumption is reduced by 40%, and the discharge of reaction by-products is reduced by 85%, fully meeting the development requirements of the current chemical industry's green and low-carbon transformation.
The changes brought by this technological breakthrough to the downstream application end of hydrogen-containing silicone oil are all-round. In the production process of polyether-modified silicone oil, the traditional platinum catalytic system needs to strictly control the Si-H/C=C molar ratio in the range of 1.05~1.20 to avoid side reactions such as crosslinking gelation. After adopting the new photoinitiated catalytic system, the selectivity of the reaction process is greatly improved, and the molar ratio control range can be extended to 1.02~1.30, which not only further reduces raw material consumption, but also greatly improves the performance consistency of products in different batches. Actual measurement data from downstream enterprises shows that the hydrophilic polyether-modified silicone oil produced by the new process has a surface tension control accuracy 50% higher than that of the traditional process, and its application performance in scenarios such as textile auxiliaries and daily chemical additives has been significantly optimized. The comprehensive production cost of related products is directly reduced by 22%, and the market competitiveness is greatly improved.
In the field of functionalized polysiloxane synthesis, the high selectivity advantage of the new catalytic system has been fully exerted. When preparing modified silicone oil containing special functional groups, the traditional platinum catalytic system is prone to side reactions that destroy the functional groups, resulting in a long-term low product qualification rate. The new photoinitiated system can realize precise addition at specific sites, and when synthesizing modified silicone oil containing special functional groups such as carbazole rings and epoxy groups, the functional group retention rate is increased from 75% of the traditional process to 98%, and the initial decomposition temperature of the product reaches 461.7℃, achieving a qualitative leap in thermal stability. Previously, this type of high-performance functionalized silicone oil was almost completely dependent on imports. The implementation of the new process directly promotes the full localization of such products, and has now been batch applied in the production of cutting-edge materials such as high-end ultraviolet absorbing coatings and low-air-permeability epoxy resins.
At the practical implementation level of industrial production, the adaptability advantage of the new process is also outstanding. The traditional hydrosilylation reaction kettle needs to be equipped with a complex temperature control system and precious metal recovery device, while the new photoinitiated continuous reaction production line covers only one-third of the area of the traditional batch production line, and the construction investment cost is reduced by 60%. At the same time, the reaction process does not require long-term high-temperature heat preservation, and the production cycle is shortened from the traditional 8~12 hours to less than 15 minutes, making the production efficiency increased by dozens of times. More importantly, the new process completely eliminates the problem of product yellowing caused by platinum catalyst residue in the traditional system. The prepared modified silicone oil product is colorless and transparent, no subsequent complex decolorization and purification processes are needed, further simplifying the production process and improving product quality.
Industry institutions estimate that with the gradual promotion of the new green hydrosilylation process, by 2028, China's entire downstream hydrogen-containing silicone oil modification industry will achieve an annual reduction of more than 1.2 million tons of carbon emissions, save more than 30 tons of platinum metal resource consumption, and create direct economic benefits of more than 8 billion yuan. This technology will not only greatly reduce the overall production cost of organic silicone new materials, but also break the technical bottleneck restricted by the catalyst system in the past downstream product development process, making more functionalized modified silicone oil products that were previously difficult to industrialize have the feasibility of large-scale mass production, promoting the innovation speed of the entire organic silicone industry to enter a new stage.
Industry experts point out that the industrial implementation of this green process is a milestone technological innovation in the development history of the hydrogen-containing silicone oil industry. It not only solves the long-standing industry pain points such as precious metal dependence, high energy consumption, and high by-products, but also builds a brand-new green organic silicone synthesis technology system, providing a highly valuable practical sample for the low-carbon transformation of the entire fine chemical industry. In the future, with the continuous iterative optimization of technology, this new catalytic system will further expand its application scenarios, covering the synthesis fields of more hydrogen-containing silicone oil derivative products, and promoting the global organic silicone industry to enter a new development stage of low cost, low emission and high added value.
