Raw Materials
Most carbon black manufacturing units in the western world, especially in North America and Europe, are being forced to shut down their operations because of the heavy competition they are facing from low cost Asian manufacturers. That’s the view of Tech Archival analysts, who said as much in a report entitled “China Carbon Black: Assessment, Opportunities & Forecast Up-to 2018”, which was published 24 January.
Four French companies are partnering in a project to develop further applications for used tyres. Work is being carried out under the TREC project name and Michelin’s leadership; TREC is backed by a €51 million budget that extends over an eight year period and includes €13.3 million that France’s Agency for the Environment and Energy Management (ADEME) is providing to Michelin and one other partner, SDTech, as part of the French government’s “Investing in the Future” programme. The project covers all stages of research and development processes, from the definition of scientific concepts to pilot testing and validation on an industrial demonstrator. Michelin says at least one of the project’s outcomes is expected to tie in with the BioButterfly project that began last year.
Sustainable materials company Lehigh Technologies Inc. has strengthened its research and development capabilities by investing in new mixing and analytical equipment for its Application and Development Center (ADC) and through the appointment of Chad Jasiunas as technical manager for functional materials. This expansion enables Lehigh to further promote the adoption of its sustainable micronised rubber powder (MRP) material in green tyre applications.
On 27 December, Pirelli reported the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Pirelli Tyre Russia, Russian petroleum company Rosneft and Oil Techno; the MoU covers setting up a joint venture to research and develop synthetic rubber, in particular Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SBR), in Armenia.
The Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau (TRIB) and the American Commercial Tire Network (ACTN) have jointly launched a video highlighting the environmental benefits of retreading. The video can be seen on the retreading organisation’s YouTube channel and in the video section of its website. TRIB says it will also display and distribute the video at the trade shows it attends and offer it to news outlets in order to highlight the positive environmental aspects of retreading.
In a message published on the company’s website, Shandong Linglong Tyre Co., Ltd has addressed the use of raw materials sourced in the Democratic Republic of Congo, stating that it “takes very serious” the allegations that metals mined in the DRC may be making their way into the company’s supply chain. Shandong Linglong wrote that it expects its suppliers only source materials from environmentally and socially responsible suppliers, and said it has systems in place to ensure compliance.
New Year, new prices. As of 1 January, German specialty chemicals firm Lanxess will increase prices for the rubber chemicals supplied by its Rubber Chemicals business units. The company says this move is necessary to offset raw material cost increases expected in the first quarter of 2014.
The world’s fourth-largest sugar producer, Tereos, has joined the French BioButterfly project to develop and roll out a process for producing bio-butadiene. The company has signed a partnership agreement with Michelin that focuses on the industrial transformation of agricultural raw materials; this partnership aims to strengthen the upstream phase of the BioButterfly project.
Hungary’s MOL Group and Japan’s JSR Corporation have reached an agreement to establish an S-SBR synthetic rubber plant in Tiszaújváros, Hungary. The plant is expected to begin operations in 2017 and JSR and MOL will hold 51 per cent and 49 per cent shares in the joint-venture respectively. Plant capacity will be 60,000 tonnes per annum, and in the long term the project should create more than 100 new jobs.
Sustainable materials company Lehigh Technologies has announced two new Board members. Former executive vice president and chief operating officer at Yokohama North America, Jim MacMaster has joined the company’s Board of Directors, while Adel Halasa, PhD, a polymer scientist formerly with Goodyear, has joined its Advisory Board.
Three French companies – Michelin, Axens and IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN) – have announced the launch of a plant chemistry research partnership that aims to develop and bring to market a process for producing bio-sourced butadiene, or bio-butadiene. The partnership goes under the name ‘BioButterfly’ and in addition to developing an innovative bio-butadiene production process, the three partners are also committed to laying the groundwork for a future bio-sourced synthetic rubber industry in France.
More manufacturers are selecting Yokohama’s flagship environmental BluEarth tyres for their model ranges, according to the company. Manufacturers such as Toyota, Lexus and Honda have all chosen the products as original equipment on some of the most recent additions to the range of hybrid and environmentally-friendly vehicles.
As the market approached the first anniversary of tyre labelling, at the start of October industry body ETRMA expressed the need for consistency and sustainability in regulation across Europe. “The European Tyre and Rubber Industry has a strong manufacturing presence in Europe and needs a sustainable regulatory framework, well-coordinated among different policy areas, to remain competitive despite this long economic crisis”, said Patrick Lepercq, President of ETRMA at the association’s board meeting today.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber chairman and chief executive officer Richard J. Kramer says the company’s third quarter results “demonstrate continued sustainable earnings growth and the type of disciplined execution needed to deliver on our targets in 2013 and beyond.”
Titan International’s Titan Mining Services business has launched an operation to reclaim raw materials from mining tyres. Titan Tire Reclamation Corp. (TTRC) will work together with joint-venture company Green Carbon, using the latter’s pyrolysis process.
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