China’s Transfer Chemicals starts production at 120ktpa ‘rare-earth’ rubber plant

Jiaxing City, China – Zhejiang Chuanhua Synthetic Materials Co., part of China’s Transfer Chemicals group, has started production at a new ‘rare-earth’ rubber production unit in Jiaxing port district, in eastern China.

The 120 kilotonne per annum (ktpa) facility was commissioned in mid-July and was started-up in ‘first attempt,’ Transfer Chemicals announced in its half-year financial report 27 Aug.

The plant primarily produces rare-earth butadiene rubber grades 9104 and 9106, as well as other rare-earth series products including “the easy-to-process grade TF45,” said the report.

The grades are particularly produced to meet customer requirements for enhanced properties such as low rolling resistance and high wear resistance for tires.

Additionally, the unit will have a ‘flexible production schedule’ for other differentiated butadiene rubbers, such as the linear and highly transparent grade TF08S, the company said.

With the new capacity, Transfer Chemicals said its total annual output for butadiene rubber will reach 270ktpa, making it “the largest single-site butadiene rubber factory in the world.”

The Chinese group announced plans for the construction of the Yuan605 billion (€77 million) facility July last year.

At the time, the group said in its proposal that it would use an ‘idle land’ in its existing factory in Jiaxing port district to build the facility.

The proposal indicated that the plant would produce neodymium-catalysed rare earth butadiene rubber, as well as 985 tonnes per annum of industrial hexane as a by-product.