German specialty chemicals group Lanxess expects to produce the world's first bio-based ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) rubber in Brazil by the end of 2011, the company said Wednesday.
The plant at Triunfo currently makes 40,000 mt/year of regular EPDM rubber. EPDM is normally produced from oil-based ethylene and propylene.
For the bio-based process, Lanxess will use ethylene made entirely from sugarcane. For this process, ethanol is obtained by means of dehydration from Brazilian sugar cane.
Braskem will supply the bio-based ethylene via pipeline to the existing EPDM plant.
Meanwhile, Lanxess expects demand to increase for high performance rubber, especially for green tires, citing a European Union tire labelling law which will be implemented in November 2012.
Under the new law, producers of tires for cars, and light and heavy trucks must specify fuel consumption, wet grip and noise classification of the product by means of a sticker or a label.
"Because of the European Union tire labeling initiative, the market share of green tires made of high-performance rubber will increase from its present 35% to around 50% of the overall tire market," Lanxess said.
To meet the need for high performance rubber, the company will build a Eur200 million ($288 million) neodymium polybutadiene rubber plant in Singapore.
The plant, the second-largest of its kind in the world, will have a capacity of 140,000 mt/year and is expected to come on stream in the first half of 2015.
Lanxess has also increased its production capacities for high-performance rubber at its facilities at Dormagen, Germany, Cabo, Brazil and Port Jerome, France.
