生物基弹性体的研究进展

The rapid development of petroleum-based synthetic elastomers has posed unsustainable issues and faced increasing pressure for energy efficiency and emission reduction. Natural rubber is greatly influenced by the environment and climate with limited production. China is heavily reliant on imports due to inadequate self-sufficiency in natural rubber. In response to these challenges，developing a new generation of bio-based elastomers that are independent of fossil resources with solar energy is an effective way to address the shortage of rubber resources and ensure global rubber resource security with long-term and sustainable supply. This article reviews the latest research progress in two main categories of bio-based elastomers which were produced by different approaches. One approach involves using bio-based monomers（such as ethylene，isoprene and itaconic acid） to synthesize bio-based synthetic elastomers like bio-based isoprene rubber，bio-based ethylene-propylene-diene rubber and bio-based itaconate elastomer using traditional synthesis processes. These bio-based synthetic elastomers exhibit comparable performance to traditional non-bio-based engineering elastomers，making them promising alternatives to existing engineering elastomers. The other approach involves extracting naturally occurring elastomers from plants，such as natural rubber，Eucommia ulmoides gum，and TKS rubber. In the context of the dual carbon strategy，with the rapid development of microbial fermentation technology and genetic engineering，the cost of bio-based elastomers will gradually approach that of traditional rubber，opening up broad prospects for their development.