Pirelli intends to supply its tyre factories in the Asia Pacific region with synthetic rubber produced in Russia. The tyre maker has signed a three-party Memorandum of Understanding related to this project. This new MoU facilitates the continuation of plans set out by MoUs signed between Pirelli and Russian petroleum company Rosneft in May and October 2014.
Tyre equipment manufacturer Mesnac has acquired Fushun Yikesi New Material, a Chinese producer of synthetic rubber and resin products, for the sum of US$60 million, according to reports. The acquisition gives the company entry into the rubber raw materials side of the industry.
A new butadiene extraction plant at BASF’s Verbund site in Antwerp, Belgium has entered operation, the company reported today. The plant is the second BASF butadiene extraction plant in Europe – the other being its 105,000 tonne per annum Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, Germany – and its 155,000 tonne a year capacity more than doubles the firm’s butadiene production capacity in the region.
Rosneft president and chairman of the management board Igor Sechin has held negotiations with Pirelli’s top management including Marco Tronchetti Provera on the subject of expanding the two companies well reported cooperation.
Chemical producer Lanxess has rolled out a complete rebranding of its butyl rubber products. The brand family now goes under the X Butyl name and all existing product grades have been renamed; Regular Butyl 301, for example, is now called Lanxess X_Butyl RB 301. Bromobutyl 2030 has become Lanxess X_Butyl BB 2030, and Chlorobutyl 1240 has been renamed to Lanxess X_Butyl CB 1240. Lanxess has also launched a new dedicated website, www.butyl.com.
Since spring 2012, Lanxess has run a pilot project involving a more energy and cost efficient butyl rubber production process. The process was tested at two plants at its Zwijndrecht site in Belgium, and built on research and development work it began seven years ago. The specialty chemicals company reports that this pilot project has now been concluded, with successful results. Now that the project is complete, Lanxess says it intends to mothball the plants. It has begun a labour consultation process with unions and employees.
The new solution styrene-butadiene rubber (S-SBR) manufacturing facility built by Sumitomo Chemical subsidiary Sumitomo Chemical Asia Pte Ltd in Singapore officially opened on 7 March. The 40,000 ton per annum plant will primarily supply the tyre industry and complements the company’s existing 10,000 ton facility in Japan.
Hankook Tire and German specialty chemicals firm Lanxess will work together on the development of synthetic rubber technologies for use in high performance tyres. The details of the two companies’ collaboration were laid out in a Memorandum of Understanding signed on 26 February. Under the agreement, Hankook and Lanxess will jointly work to expedite the development of synthetic rubber grades for high performance tyres. Lanxess says the MoU builds on the ties it has maintained with Hankook since 2008, when the tyre maker awarded it a long-term contract to supply solution styrene-butadiene rubber (S-SBR) and neodymium performance butadiene rubber (Nd-PBR).
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.
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.
Cooper Tire and Industrias Negromex S.A. de C.V. (INSA), a subsidiary of Grupo KUO, report that the US patent office has granted a patent to the two organizations for their silica masterbatch process. According to the two companies, the process to produce silane, hydrophobated silica, silica masterbatch and rubber products results in a broader processing window offering “manufacturing efficiencies” for the end user.
Lanxess AG has lifted its full-year guidance for 2011 on the back of strong second quarter results. The German specialty chemicals company now expects its EBITDA pre-exceptionals to grow about 20 per cent year-on-year after previously forecasting a growth of 10 to 15 per cent. During the second quarter the company’s EBITDA pre-exceptionals rose 26 per cent year-on-year to 339 million euros.
On July 13 the General Court of the European Union reduced the fines imposed on a number of companies involved in a synthetic rubber price fixing cartel. The 13 companies participating in the butadiene rubber and emulsion styrene butadiene rubber (substances primarily used in tyre production) cartel between 1996 and 2002 were given fines totalling more than 519 million euros by the European Commission in November 2006. The companies appealed this decision; all, excepting Shell group companies, succeeded in gaining an annulment or reduction in their fines from Europe’s second highest court.
As of July 1 the per tonne price for Lanxess’s Perbunan and Krynac synthetic rubber ranges and its Baymod and Nanoprene products increased by 150 euros. The given reason for this price adjustment is a rise in manufacturing costs.
Japan’s Asahi Kasei Chemicals has held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new synthetic rubber plant on Singapore’s Jurong Island. The June 22 event marks the start of work on a facility expected to produce 50,000 tons of solution-polymerised styrene-butadiene rubber (S-SBR) a year when the first stage work is complete in May 2013. Second stage work at the site, scheduled for completion in early 2015, should double annual output.
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