On June 27, 2026, with technological support from the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CIAC, CAS), the 100,000 tons/year rare earth cis-butadiene rubber (BR) production line at Dushanzi Petrochemical successfully completed commissioning, with the entire line producing premium-grade rare earth cis-butadiene rubber products meeting performance standards and quality consistency. This marks a major breakthrough in China's original rare earth catalytic synthetic rubber technology, achieving successful industrialization and complete autonomous control of core technology.

The core technology for this industrialization represents the original achievement from over sixty years of rare earth catalytic synthetic rubber research at CIAC, embodying the cumulative efforts of five generations of CIAC researchers who passed the torch in relay-style research. In 1964, Ouyang Jun, Shen Zhiquan, and colleagues published "Catalytic Activity of Rare Earth Compounds in Stereoregular Polymerization" in the Chinese Science Bulletin, publicly reporting for the first time in the world the research results on rare earth catalyst-synthesized cis-butadiene rubber, making China the first country in the world to invent rare earth catalyst-synthesized cis-butadiene rubber. In 1982, CIAC's "Rare Earth Coordination Catalytic Stereoregular Polymerization" research achievement received the Second Prize of the National Natural Science Award, establishing the theoretical and industrialization foundation for rare earth catalytic synthetic rubber. Jiang Liansheng, Zhang Xuequan, Bi Jifu, and their teams conducted thousands of scale-up experiments and dozens of pilot-scale verifications, forming a completely domestically-owned intellectual property complete process package and achieving industrialization breakthroughs. Five generations of CIAC researchers continued the struggle, ultimately achieving the leap from laboratory original achievements to ten-thousand-ton-scale production of rare earth catalytic synthetic rubber.

The second-generation rare earth cis-butadiene rubber industrialization technology, developed by Bi Jifu's research team, achieved breakthroughs in key core technologies including precise catalyst structure regulation, one-click full-process automated production, and 100% domestically-produced technology and equipment manufacturing. The team solved a series of technical challenges including homogeneous single-active-site catalyst preparation, catalyst tolerance and raw material adaptability, efficient chain transfer and chain shuttling polymerization, and integrated long-chain branching and functionalization. For the first time,production of full-Mooney rare earth cis-butadiene rubber (new national standard grades BR1260 and BR1240) was achieved, effectively meeting the market's urgent demand for high-grade rare earth cis-butadiene rubber and providing strong support for promoting high-quality development of the domestic petrochemical new materials industry and ensuring supply chain security. Compared to traditional nickel-based cis-butadiene rubber, rare earth cis-butadiene rubber demonstrates outstanding advantages in core performance metrics including high wear resistance, high strength, fatigue resistance, tear resistance, low-temperature resistance, low heat buildup, and low rolling resistance, making it more suitable for new energy vehicles and heavy-duty engineering vehicle tires, with extremely broad industrial application prospects.

The successful commissioning of the 100,000 tons/year rare earth cis-butadiene rubber production line represents a landmark achievement in transforming laboratory original innovation into large-scale production and industrial application at CIAC, serving as a typical example of deep integration between scientific-technological innovation and industrial innovation. Since the two parties commenced comprehensive cooperation in 2006, CIAC researchers have been stationed long-term at the production site for joint research. Faced with challenges during project construction and commissioning—including multi-unit series operations and complex continuous polymerization conditions—CIAC researchers leveraged decades of accumulated industrialization scale-up experience to effectively ensure smooth and stable production line commissioning, achieving integration from fundamental research to application development, from research teams to enterprise teams, and from technological breakthroughs to industrial deployment.

CIAC is the originator and leader of China's synthetic rubber technology. From the birth of New China's first synthetic rubber to the world-first rare earth catalytic synthetic rubber; from "New Technology for Industrial Production of Cis-Butadiene Rubber" receiving the Special Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award to China's first composite solid propellant binder liquid polythi rubber supporting the "Two Bombs, One Satellite" project; from meeting urgent national economic production needs to strongly supporting national defense modernization; from original innovation in key core technologies to large-scale industrial application. Over more than seventy years, CIAC has achieved remarkable results in synthetic rubber R&D, receiving a series of honors including the Special Prize and First Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award and the Second Prize of the National Natural Science Award, leaving indelible marks at multiple key milestones of China's synthetic rubber enterprise and forging the most weighty technological monument.