生物基弹性体驶入“快车道”

With the advancement of the "dual carbon" goals, biomanufacturing is sparking a green revolution with its strong low-carbon advantages. At the recently held inaugural meeting of the Biobased Elastomers Branch of the China Synthetic Rubber Industry Association and the Industry Development Conference, attending experts believed that, in the face of the dual pressures of resource shortages and environmental pollution, developing biobased elastomers that use renewable biomass to replace petroleum-based raw materials has become an inevitable choice for achieving green and sustainable development of the rubber industry.

A sector with the potential to become a tens-of-billions market over the next decade.

The core advantages of bio-based elastomers lie in their low-carbon, degradable nature and customizable properties. Wang Chao, Executive President of the Huangpu Green Advanced Materials Technology Research Institute and tenured professor at the School of Materials Science and Engineering of South China University of Technology, noted that bio-based elastomers are expected to address, at the source, the two core challenges facing the traditional elastomer industry: dependence on fossil-based raw materials and high carbon emissions.

Li Wenjun, a researcher at the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, also believes that bio-based polyurethanes, bio-based thermoplastic elastomers, and emerging dynamic covalent bond elastomers are demonstrating a trend towards multifunctional composites such as "elastomers + conductivity/thermal conductivity/antibacterial/sensing functions." Self-healing, recyclable, and high-toughness elastomers have become mainstream.

According to reports, leveraging these dual advantages, the bio-based elastomer industry is currently in a major window of opportunity marked by the continued release of policy dividends and the sustained rise of the industry. Requirements in various countries related to carbon neutrality, carbon tariffs, and carbon footprint accounting are forcing the tire, automotive, medical, and packaging industries to switch to low-carbon bio-based elastomers, directly driving the expansion of demand. Li Xiang, National Low-Carbon and Sustainability Project Manager of the SGS Chemical Analysis and Sustainability Department at SGS-CSTC Standards Technical Services (Tianjin) Co., Ltd., gave the example that the European Union has explicitly listed tires among the first batch of key regulated products, requiring the formulation of dedicated eco-design plans that include minimum thresholds for recyclability, recycled material content, and designs that facilitate disassembly, with the goal of implementation before 2030, thereby compelling companies to use green products.

“In the next decade, empowered by synthetic biology, innovations in dynamic covalent bonds, utilization of non-food biomass, and industrial chain collaboration, bio-based elastomers are expected to address the environmental challenges of traditional elastomers and create new markets worth tens of billions in fields such as healthcare, green tires, and flexible electronics,” said Li Wenjun.

Large-scale substitution still faces many challenges.

Objectively speaking, bio-based elastomers are currently in the early stage of development characterized by technological breakthroughs, market expansion, and industrial upgrading, and their large-scale replacement of traditional petroleum-based elastomers still faces many challenges.

Wang Chao believes that one of the challenges is the significant “green premium.” Both raw material costs and production costs are relatively high. Affected by agricultural cycles, climate, and trade fluctuations, and due to the low efficiency of biofermentation and catalytic conversion processes as well as the small downstream market size, production capacity remains limited and product prices are high, resulting in a lack of price competitiveness. Market transactions therefore depend too heavily on policies and consumers’ environmental awareness.

The second challenge lies in striking a balance between performance and processability. Some bio-based elastomers still lag behind conventional products in strength and fatigue resistance, and the rheological behavior of new materials may be incompatible with existing production lines, requiring equipment or process modifications. In this regard, several experts have pointed to technical modification as a solution. Wu Jinrong, a professor at Sichuan University, noted that by identifying the native structures in rubber that affect performance, it is possible to develop processing methods that preserve these native structures, thereby effectively improving rubber performance. For example, natural rubber contains many entangled structures that can enhance its mechanical properties; how to retain these entanglements during processing is a key point in improving its mechanical performance. Wu Xiaohui, an associate professor at the College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, also proposed that modifying epoxidized natural rubber can improve its wet-skid resistance for use as a tire raw material.

挑战之三是供应链脆弱与规模化瓶颈。国内多数生物基弹性体处于“千吨级”中试阶段，与全球“千万吨级”橡胶需求差距巨大；从农田到工厂的稳定、规模化原料供应体系尚未形成，生物反应器、专用挤出机等核心设备依赖进口；生物基含量检测、性能评价、生命周期评价标准不统一，市场认证滞后，制约规模化应用等。

New frontier and differentiated application scenarios should be developed.

Wang Chao pointed out that the application fields of bio-based elastomers are expanding from high-tech, high-value-added areas to traditional bulk commodities.

Tires and footwear manufacturing are the primary markets for bio-based elastomers, where industrial commercialization has already been achieved. Xue Tianxiang, Head of New Materials and Sustainability for Goodyear Asia Pacific, revealed that the company has launched several green tires containing sustainable materials and plans to introduce its first tire made from 100% sustainable materials by 2030. In footwear materials, the bio-based biodegradable polyester elastomer developed by the team led by Zhang Liqun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, has reached cooperation agreements with brands such as Li-Ning and Anta, and Li-Ning has launched the world’s first biodegradable athletic shoe.

Experts pointed out that in the future, it will also be necessary to develop novel frontier and differentiated application scenarios. Products such as ENR-based self-healing seals, Eucommia ulmoides gum shape-memory stents, itaconate smart drug carriers, and PGS-based thermosensitive hydrogels have application potential in aerospace and biomedical engineering.

Zhang Ming, General Manager of Jiangsu Hengnuo New Material Technology Co., Ltd., stated: "Bio-based rubber performs well in sustainability, oil resistance, low-temperature resistance, and mechanical strength, and can be used to produce biodegradable conveyor belts, plasticizers, thermoplastic vulcanizates, chewing gum, masks, and other products."