Synthos raising butadiene rubber capacity by 50%

Hanover, Germany – Synthos is expanding its butadiene rubber (BR) production capacity by 50% to help address ongoing market shortages of the material, company officials have informed ERJ.

The programme involves projects at the group’s facilities in Schkopau, Germany and Kralupy, Czech Republic, said Matteo Marchisio, business unit director, Synthetic Rubber at Synthos.

By the yearend, Synthos will add 20 kilotonnes per annum (ktpa) of new capacity at the Czech plant via a debottlenecking on the finishing line, Marchisio explained at Tire Tech Expo 2022.

Then, at the start of 2023, Synthos plans to restart a 30ktpa BR plant in Schkopau, according to the Synthos executive speaking in an interview at the event held 18-20 May in Hanover.

Designed for the production of nickel/neodymium BR, the former Trinseo plant in Schkopau was idled in 2020, explained Dr Malte Wohlfahrt, Synthos’ director R&D, Synthetic Rubber. “And now we are really excited that we are restarting that at the beginning of next year.”

According to Wohlfahrt, a major deficit in the supply of BR is “creating difficulties for tire producers in Europe. A lot [of the material] was imported from Russia, which European tire manufacturers now have difficulties in sourcing.”

We will report further on these developments and on Synthos’ strategy for its synthetic rubber portfolio in the July/August issue of European Rubber Journal magazine.