Sinopec Nd-BR plant enters service

The China Petrochemical Corporation, or Sinopec, reports that the butadiene rubber factory built by its subsidiary Sinopec Yanshan has opened after a 20 month construction period. The new plant has an annual capacity of 30,000 tonnes.

Sinopec describes the plant’s output as being rare earth butadiene rubber. Neodymium, a rare earth material, is used to catalyse the polymerisation of butadiene rubber to make Nd-BR, which is increasingly used in the tyre industry. The first batch of products was manufactured on 28 October.