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In recent years, the consumption of halogenated butyl rubber (HIIR) in our country has grown rapidly. The apparent consumption volume was 3,000 tons in 1997, while it reached 112,000 tons in 2006, an increase of 37 times over 10 years. It is estimated that China’s demand for brominated butyl rubber could reach 160,000 tons in 2008, and around 200,000 tons by 2011. The rapid growth in the consumption of brominated butyl rubber is driven by three major markets. Strong growth in tire consumption: Tires are the largest market for halobutyl rubber. Due to its excellent airtightness, halogenated butyl rubber is mainly used in the production of inner liners for radial tires. At present, China’s tire industry is also moving in line with international trends toward radial design, flatter profiles, and tubeless construction. Since the exemption of consumption tax on radial tires in 2001, there has been a boom in the development of radial tires across the country, with all-steel radial truck tires particularly entering a period of rapid growth. At present, 100% of passenger car radial tires in our country are tubeless. In the past two years, the development of tubeless heavy-duty radial tires in our country has also gained momentum; the market is showing improvement. Moreover, as production increases, this has **stimulated demand for halogenated butyl rubber. It is understood that from 2000 to 2007, China’s production of radial tires increased from 29.51 million units to 230 million units, of which the production of all-steel radial load-bearing tires rose from 2.99 million units to 50 million units. At present, the radialization rate of tires nationwide has exceeded 70%. The market size for all-steel radial tires will continue to grow over the next 5 years; it is estimated that by 2011, the demand for halogenated butyl rubber in the tire industry will reach 165,000 tons. Demand for pharmaceuticals is rising steadily: Pharmaceutical stoppers represent another application area for halogenated butyl rubber. The butyl rubber stopper series is mainly used for packaging disposable injection and infusion medications in the pharmaceutical industry. Since ordinary butyl rubber used in the production of stoppers typically employs a vulcanization system based on sulfur, accelerators, and zinc oxide, or a resin-based system, and both zinc oxide and sulfur have adverse effects on pharmaceutical stoppers while the vulcanization speed of resins is too slow, ordinary butyl rubber is generally not used as a substrate for pharmaceutical stoppers; instead, halogenated butyl rubber is used. Among the two major series of brominated butyl rubbers, chlorinated butyl rubber stoppers are primarily used for ordinary large-volume infusions, vaccines, heparin, water for injection (special bromobutyl 6900), and CO2-filled products ； Butyl bromide stoppers are mainly suitable for insulin, ** agents, and lyophilized preparations ； Medicines that can be used for both include amino acids and fats, blood derivatives, vegetable oils, hexanol, powders, etc. At present, the number of butyl stopper manufacturers across the country has grown from less than 10 initially to 42, with an annual production capacity of 40 billion units. **The Food and Drug Administration has stipulated that, starting from January 1, 2005, it is prohibited to use ordinary natural rubber stoppers for packaging all drugs, with a complete switch to butyl rubber stoppers to take effect from July 1. **The enforcement of policies has led to an increase in the use of brominated butyl rubber in our country to a certain extent. In the coming years, consumption of halogenated butyl rubber in this industry in China is set to increase at a steady pace; it is estimated that by 2010, consumption of this material in this industry will reach 23,000 tons. The environmental protection market is growing rapidly: Brominated butyl rubber has a wide range of applications in rubber-based products, with rubber anti-corrosion linings being one of the key applications in this field. Since chemical processing equipment and devices such as desulfurization towers in power plants are exposed to highly acidic and alkaline environments, suffering from high corrosion and prone to aging, rubber anti-corrosion linings are commonly used in such equipment, with halogenated butyl rubber being the most popular choice. Due to their relatively low permeability coefficients and higher chemical stability, as well as their ability to prevent the diffusion of water vapor, oxygen, and sulfur dioxide along with their wear resistance, butyl rubber products are more suitable for wet flue gas desulfurization processes. According to the plans of relevant authorities, by 2010 the domestic production rate of wet flue gas desulfurization equipment for power plants in China is set to reach 100%. By that time, at least 50 million kilowatts of power generation capacity will require such desulfurization equipment in order to ensure effective control of sulfur dioxide pollution. If power plants equipped with flue gas desulfurization systems require 3,000 square meters of butyl rubber lining per 200,000 kilowatts, then in 2010 at least 750,000 square meters of butyl rubber lining would be needed for the market. In addition, butyl rubber anti-corrosion linings can also be applied in the petrochemical, fertilizer, metallurgy, food, pharmaceutical, and environmental protection industries, offering very broad prospects. Furthermore, due to the use of butyl rubber products in industries such as polybutyl coatings and butyl waterproof tapes, consumption of halogenated butyl rubber in these industries is set to continue increasing in the coming years. Although there is strong demand for brominated butyl rubber in our country, the related technology and products remain unavailable domestically to date. The reason is that the main producers of brominated butyl rubber in the world today are ExxonMobil and Lanxess; however, they do not transfer their technology to others, and the market is also under their control. To overcome this obstacle, in 1999 the Synthetic Rubber Division of Beijing Yanshan Petrochemical Company adopted technology from the Italian company PI to build China’s only production facility capable of manufacturing 30,000 tons per year of butyl rubber, for the production of conventional butyl rubber; however, the localization of halogenated butyl rubber has not yet been achieved. However, there have been positive developments recently: first, Yanshan Petrochemical is set to launch a production line for halogenated butyl rubber; then, Zhenao Chemical Company of Liaoning Panjin Yun Group signed a technology transfer agreement with the Russian research institute YARSINTEZ to build a facility for producing 100,000 tons per year of butyl rubber and halogenated butyl rubber. The breakthrough initiative for zero-based development of halogenated butyl rubber in our country has been launched.