In mid-September 2026, the green transformation of China’s inorganic powder industry continues to gather pace. As a widely applied functional powder material, precipitated silica sees low-carbon transformation on the production side becoming a key lever for enterprises to lift core competitiveness. Historically, industrial production was generally plagued by large water consumption, massive solid waste output and high energy consumption. With the continuous advancement of environmental policies and dual-carbon goals, the living space for the traditional extensive production model keeps shrinking. A group of domestic enterprises have ramped up R&D investment, tackling green preparation processes focusing on solid waste recycling, low-water-consumption synthesis and tail gas recovery. By leveraging low-carbon technologies to build differentiated advantages, they meet environmental requirements while cutting raw material costs and boosting product market competitiveness. The market landscape has also changed accordingly. Enterprises capable of clean production gain an upper hand in bidding for high-end clients and securing foreign trade orders, while backward production capacity relying merely on low-cost and high-emission production is gradually phased out by the market.

　　The traditional precipitated silica precipitation process has long faced resource consumption and environmental pressure. The conventional production route adopts sodium silicate and sulfuric acid as main raw materials. The manufacturing process consumes massive volumes of water and generates large amounts of saline wastewater and solid by-products. Wastewater treatment and solid waste stockpiling bring high operation and maintenance costs for environmental protection. Amid stricter environmental supervision, many outdated production lines are under pressure of production restriction and rectification. Some small and medium-sized factories struggle to maintain stable and continuous production due to insufficient environmental investment, and structural adjustment on the supply side of the industry keeps moving forward. Many downstream customers, especially large enterprises in tire, coating and new energy materials sectors, have incorporated carbon footprint, environmental compliance and clean production capacity into supplier assessment criteria during vendor screening, instead of only focusing on unit product price. Low-carbon supply chains have become a vital consideration in procurement.

　　Multiple new green preparation technologies are gradually moving from laboratories to industrial application. The carbonization process using silicon-containing solid waste such as industrial silicon slag, phosphorus ore-associated silicon resources and rice husk ash as raw materials is a hot R&D focus in the industry. This technology converts solid waste originally destined for landfilling into precipitated silica products, realizing the recycling of silicon resources, greatly reducing consumption of primary mineral raw materials and cutting carbon emissions in production. Besides, membrane separation wastewater reuse technology, waste heat recovery systems and continuous synthesis devices are being popularized in production lines of leading enterprises. Production water is recycled and reused, and reaction waste heat is recovered for material preheating, effectively lowering water consumption and overall energy use. Some enterprises have completed pilot tests and achieved small-batch mass production. Key indicators of the products such as specific surface area and dispersibility can reach the same level as precipitated silica made via traditional precipitation methods, and the products can be used in tire reinforcement, coating matting and other scenarios.

　　Green processes drive product quality upgrading and help domestic precipitated silica enter high-end supply chains. Green preparation routes are not only designed to reduce carbon emissions. Higher precision in process control can reduce impurity introduction, producing precipitated silica with low heavy metal and low ion content, suitable for fields with strict purity requirements including new energy, pharmaceutical auxiliary materials and high-end sealants. Many leading enterprises have developed a series of hydrophobically modified precipitated silica relying on low-carbon production lines. The powder has fewer agglomerates and delivers better dispersion in organic resin systems. Such products with low-carbon labels and high performance have won wider recognition from domestic high-end customers. When exported to Europe, they can better cope with relevant EU carbon border control requirements and improve the stability of foreign trade orders.

　　The trend of low-carbon supply chains pushes coordinated transformation of upstream and downstream sectors. Upstream manufacturers of sodium silicate and soda ash for precipitated silica are also carrying out energy-saving and carbon-reduction renovation simultaneously to cut carbon footprints on the raw material side and provide low-carbon raw materials for downstream precipitated silica producers. Downstream tire and new material enterprises are more willing to prioritize purchasing precipitated silica with low-carbon certification to reduce carbon emissions of their own products, forming an interconnected green supply chain system linking upstream and downstream. This linkage effect turns green production from merely an environmental cost for enterprises into a core threshold for supply chain access. Enterprises lacking low-carbon transformation capacity will gradually lose high-quality major clients.

　　Challenges for industrial development cannot be ignored. Green preparation technologies require high investment in equipment and R&D, bringing heavy capital pressure to small and medium-sized enterprises and making technology conversion difficult. It is hard for them to upgrade production lines in the short term. Raw materials from solid waste sources have fluctuating compositions, imposing higher requirements on production process control, and the stability of product indicators needs continuous optimization. Meanwhile, the market premium for low-carbon products has not yet fully taken shape. Some downstream customers are temporarily reluctant to pay higher procurement prices for low-carbon powder, which to a certain extent dampens enterprises’ enthusiasm for investing in green technology R&D.

　　Industry analysts state that in the long run, low carbon will become an irreversible development mainline for the precipitated silica industry. Future industrial competition will not be limited to product performance and price. Carbon footprint, clean production capacity and resource recycling level will all become core competitiveness of enterprises. As green processes keep maturing and equipment costs gradually decline, more enterprises will complete low-carbon renovation of production lines. The industrial capacity structure will continue to be optimized, high-energy-consuming backward capacity will exit at an accelerated pace. Enterprises equipped with green preparation technologies, stable product quality and complete carbon management systems will seize a larger share in both domestic market and overseas exports, promoting the whole precipitated silica industry to advance toward a green, high-end and sustainable direction.