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In the third quarter of 2026, a milestone green manufacturing progress in the global organic silicone industry was officially announced: the world's first industrial production line of bio-based phenyl-modified silicone oil, which uses 100% bio-based phenyl monomers as raw materials and consumes zero fossil energy in the whole process, officially passed the continuous 96-hour full-load operation assessment in China. The bio-based carbon proportion of the product reaches 100%, all performance indicators comprehensively surpass traditional fossil-based similar products, and the full-life-cycle carbon emission per unit product is 94% lower than that of traditional processes. Both core dimensions have refreshed the global industry record, marking that China has achieved a global leading technological breakthrough in the field of bio-based green synthesis of special modified organic silicone materials. The new-generation bio-based phenyl-modified silicone oil produced by this production line not only has all performance indicators comprehensively surpassing similar international products, but also realizes the full-chain bio-based substitution from the raw material end to the production end, completely breaking the technological monopoly of overseas enterprises in the field of high-end green phenyl-modified silicone oil, and providing a disruptive Chinese technical path for the global organic silicone industry to achieve the 2050 carbon neutrality goal.
As a special organic silicone material with both high temperature resistance and high refractive index characteristics of phenyl groups and excellent flexibility of polysiloxane, phenyl-modified silicone oil is a key functional substrate supporting the green upgrading of high-end manufacturing industry. For a very long time in the past, the mainstream production processes of global phenyl-modified silicone oil completely relied on fossil-based phenylchlorosilane as the core raw material. Not only was the carbon emission extremely high during the raw material production process, but also a large number of difficult-to-treat chlorine-containing by-products would be generated during the reaction process, resulting in long-term high carbon emission per unit product. In traditional processes, the total direct and indirect carbon emissions of producing 1 ton of phenyl-modified silicone oil exceeded 14 tons, which is a typical fine chemical category with high energy consumption and high emission. With the accelerated advancement of global carbon neutrality, the downstream high-end manufacturing industry has increasingly strict requirements for the bio-based attribute and carbon footprint of upstream materials. High-end manufacturing industries in Europe, North America and other regions have begun to gradually include the material bio-based proportion into the green procurement access standards. The phenyl-modified silicone oil produced by traditional high-carbon emission fossil-based processes has been unable to meet the access requirements of downstream high-end markets, and the green and low-carbon transformation of the global organic silicone industry is extremely urgent.
The new generation bio-based phenyl-modified silicone oil production line put into operation this time has realized a disruptive full-chain innovation in the synthesis technology system. After more than ten years of continuous research, the R&D team has developed the world's first oriented hydrosilylation synthesis process of bio-based benzene. Using bio-based benzene obtained from the degradation of agricultural waste lignin as the core starting raw material, through the directional hydrosilylation reaction catalyzed by bio-enzymes, high-purity bio-based phenylchlorosilane monomers are 100% synthesized under mild conditions of normal temperature and pressure, completely replacing the fossil-based phenyl monomers obtained from petroleum refining in traditional processes, eliminating the carbon emission of fossil energy from the raw material end. At the same time, the production line adopts 100% green electricity such as wind power and photovoltaic as energy supply. The supporting by-product full resource utilization system converts all trace by-products generated in the production process into degradable bio-based organic fertilizer additives, realizing near-zero emission in the production process, eliminating carbon emissions from the raw material end to the production end in the whole chain, and finally achieving a breakthrough result that the full-life-cycle carbon footprint of the product is less than 0.8 tons CO₂/ton, far lower than the global industry average of 13.7 tons CO₂/ton.
From the feedback of the downstream application end, the implementation of the new generation of bio-based phenyl-modified silicone oil directly promotes the green and low-carbon upgrading in multiple high-end manufacturing fields. In the field of new-generation consumer electronics optical packaging, the bio-based phenyl-modified silicone oil is used to prepare optical packaging adhesives, which not only has an optical transmittance of 99.4%, but also directly reduces the full-life-cycle carbon footprint of the product by 94%, helping downstream consumer electronic products easily meet the requirements of the EU's latest carbon footprint directive for electronic and electrical products, greatly improving the global market competitiveness of China's consumer electronics brands. In the packaging field of high-end new energy vehicle headlights, bio-based phenyl-modified silicone oil is used as headlight packaging filling material, which can work stably for a long time in the extreme temperature environment from -60℃ to 260℃, increasing the full-life-cycle luminous efficiency of the headlights by 18%, and reducing the full-life-cycle carbon footprint of headlight products by 7.2%, helping the low-carbon certification of new energy vehicles and further improving the product added value of domestic new energy vehicles. In the field of green aerospace, the full bio-based phenyl-modified silicone oil is used as special damping medium for aerospace instruments, which not only fully meets the extreme working condition requirements of aerospace equipment, but also realizes the full-chain green and low-carbon of key materials for aerospace equipment, greatly reducing the overall carbon emission of the aerospace industry and helping the global aviation industry to promote the carbon neutrality goal.
Data from industry research institutions show that the global market size of bio-based phenyl-modified silicone oil reached 2.3 billion US dollars in 2025, and it is expected to maintain a compound annual growth rate of 15.7% in the next 9 years, with the market size exceeding 8.5 billion US dollars by 2034. With the implementation of the new generation of bio-based phenyl-modified silicone oil production lines in China, China will not only realize the completely independent supply of high-end bio-based phenyl-modified silicone oil, but also occupy a core competitive advantage in the green revolution of the global organic silicone industry with its world-leading full bio-based synthesis technology. At present, chemical enterprises in more than 15 countries have taken the initiative to seek technical cooperation, hoping to introduce this new generation of bio-based phenyl-modified silicone oil production technology to help the local organic silicone industry achieve the carbon neutrality goal.
Authoritative industry experts said that this industrialization breakthrough of bio-based phenyl-modified silicone oil is not just a single product green technology upgrading, but a landmark event for China to achieve full-chain bio-based technology independent control in the field of special organic silicone functional materials. In the past, the green upgrading of China's organic silicone industry often focused on the end treatment of waste gas and wastewater, but this breakthrough directly penetrated to the most source of molecular synthesis, completely replacing traditional fossil-based raw materials with bio-based raw materials, eliminating the pain points of high energy consumption and high emission from the root, providing a brand-new technical paradigm for the subsequent full bio-based transformation of the entire fine chemical industry. In the future, with the continuous iteration of technology, more brand-new special organic silicone materials based on full bio-based synthesis technology will continue to emerge, injecting new impetus into the carbon neutrality development of the global high-end manufacturing industry.
