The list of the top ten scientific and technological innovation achievements in Shandong Province for 2025 has been released in Jinan. Among the recognized projects are high-performance citral developed by Wanhua Chemical Group and a high-end tire barrier material led by Shandong Dawn Polymer Material Co., Ltd.
Citral is a high-value-added fine chemical with green application characteristics, serving as a key raw material for synthetic fragrances and nutritional chemicals. It is widely used in daily chemicals, animal feed, food, pharmaceuticals, and health products. For a long time, the large-scale production technology for high-end citral was monopolized by foreign companies, leading to a persistent reliance on imports for high-purity products in China. Wanhua Chemical has overcome core manufacturing challenges, successfully established a complete industrial process chain, and built the world's largest single-train citral production facility. The product boasts a purity exceeding 99%, which is two percentage points higher than similar foreign products. Furthermore, the process generates no solid waste and incorporates inherently safe design principles, resulting in a safer and more environmentally friendly manufacturing process.
This achievement has already been adopted by leading fragrance companies domestically and internationally, generating sales revenue of 500 million yuan. It is projected that annual production will gradually reach 40,000 tons within the next three years, with an annual output value of 2 billion yuan. This is expected to save downstream manufacturers more than 25% in raw material costs and drive the overall output value of related industries to exceed 6 billion yuan, significantly promoting the high-quality development of China's fine chemical industry.
The high-end tire barrier material, a result led by Shandong Dawn Polymer Material Co., Ltd., also successfully made the list. In collaboration with institutions such as Beijing University of Chemical Technology and Linglong Tire, the company spent 12 years overcoming key technologies including cross-linked dynamic vulcanization and composite film preparation. This enabled the large-scale production of a high-gas-barrier dynamic vulcanized alloy material (DVA), breaking the foreign technological monopoly and making the company the second globally to master this technology.
This material offers a gas barrier property 7 to 10 times greater than traditional vulcanized butyl rubber. It can reduce the weight of a single tire by approximately 1 kilogram and increase a vehicle's driving range by about 5%. The material is currently being applied by downstream companies like Linglong Tire, and its annual output value is expected to reach 1 billion yuan within two years, potentially stimulating nearly 10 billion yuan in output value across the upstream and downstream industrial chain.
The selection of the 2025 Shandong Top Ten Scientific and Technological Innovations was organized by the Shandong Innovation Development Research Institute. More than 60 academicians and experts from within and outside the province conducted a rigorous screening and voting process from the province's major scientific and technological achievements database. These outstanding achievements from Shandong span multiple fields including basic research, new-generation information technology, high-end equipment, and artificial intelligence, representing the latest accomplishments and highest level of scientific and technological innovation in the province.