【Frontiers in HaiChuan Chemical Technology】Scientists under Sinochem in China unveil a breakthrough in silicone waste recycling technology

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Scientists under Sinochem in China unveil a breakthrough in silicone waste recycling technology. Date: May 14, 2025. Recently, a research achievement led by scientists from Lanxess, a subsidiary of Sinochem, in collaboration with their partners, titled “Catalytic Recycling of Silicone Waste Using Boron Trichloride to Produce Key Chlorosilanes,” was officially published in the internationally renowned academic journal Science. This article reveals for the first time that, at an environment temperature of 40°C close to room temperature, the use of an efficient gallium catalyst enables the reaction rate in the recycling process of waste silicone to increase by a factor of one million. With this innovative technology, silicone waste can be converted into chlorosilane raw materials, thereby enabling the production of high-purity recycled materials from almost any type of silicone waste. This research achievement has attracted significant attention in the global silicone industry. Innovative recycling technologies enable the efficient recycling of silicone at low temperatures. Silicone materials are widely used in various fields such as everyday life, automobile manufacturing, electronics, healthcare, and aviation, thanks to their excellent mechanical properties, thermal stability, chemical resistance, and low toxicity. According to statistics, global silicone consumption in 2024 (based on siloxanes) was approximately 3.1 million tons, with a market value of around $40 billion. However, the silicone production process is energy-intensive and emits large amounts of carbon dioxide ； Furthermore, the current methods for disposing of silicone waste are mainly incineration or landfilling, which not only wastes resources but also has a significant impact on the environment. To address this issue, the research team proposed an innovative chemical recycling method that enables the efficient conversion of various silicone wastes into chlorosilanes at a low temperature of 40°C, allowing these chlorosilanes to be reused in silicone production and thus facilitating the recycling of silicones. Throughout this process, the research team optimized the catalyst and reaction conditions through numerous experiments, and found that the combination of a gallium catalyst with boron trichloride could significantly reduce the reaction barrier, thereby increasing the reaction rate and yield. Experimental results show that silicon oil, silicone rubber, or industrial silicone waste, as well as complex silicone products containing fillers and additives, can all be recycled using this technology. This discovery overcomes the technical challenges associated with the recycling of silicone polymers and their derivative products, and the research team is currently working with various partners to explore the feasibility of industrial application. In the future, this technology is expected to enable large-scale recycling of organic silicon waste worldwide, contributing to the sustainable development of the silicon materials industry and global carbon emission reduction. Open innovation – jointly achieving outstanding results in research. Previously, Eken Silicones’ R&D team in France, together with its partners, successfully overcame the industry challenge posed by cyclic oligomers contaminating silicone polymers during polymerization reactions. This achievement can eliminate the toxic effects of low-ring substances in specific applications, thereby enabling the production of higher-quality silicone products; the relevant findings were published in the journal Science on September 1, 2023.