ALIGNED with the high growth transportation and infrastructure megatrend, the global automotive industry is projected to grow by 5% a year, with growth rates of 10% a year in China and South Asia. This translates to a 60% increase in demand for automotive specified materials in the next ten years, with demand for ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) expected to outstrip global supply.
As such, US chemical firm Dow Chemical and Germany-based Lanxess are both putting in more efforts into EPDM supply. Dow will initiate a feasibility study to construct a plant for producing metallocene EPDM, to be sold under the brand name Nordel IP hydrocarbon rubber, and to identify potential partners and locations for
the facility.
The facility is expected to incorporate Dow’s latest proprietary catalyst technology and production via its solution process. Its elastomers portfolio is enabled by the Insite technology, which was launched in 1993 and
has delivered nine new polymers that have generated US$17 billion in revenue and, since 2005, have been growing at a rate of 15% a year.
End-use applications for Nordel IP include automotive weatherstripping, automotive hoses and belts, building
profiles, footwear soling and general rubber products.
In other news, Lanxess is investing EUR12 million to convert 50% of its EPDM production in Geleen, the Netherlands, to Keltan ACE technology.
During 2013, the company will implement the new technology at the largest of its three production lines, which accounts for half of the total production capacity of 160,000 tonnes/year in Geleen.
The company says that compared with conventional production processes, Keltan ACE technology reduces energy requirements for rubber production and it does not require catalyst extraction as a result of high catalyst efficiency. Furthermore, the process enables the manufacture of new EPDM rubber grades.
In addition, Lanxess will construct a new building in Geleen for its global EPDM business. To accommodate
up to 120 staff, the building will be constructed on the Chemelot chemical industrial site. Inauguration is planned for the beginning of 2013.
Meanwhile, Lanxess has started integrating the EPDM business of Dutch company DSM, which it acquired for
EUR310 million. The company also plans to commercially produce EPDM from bio-based ethylene by the end of the year. It will be the first form of bio-based EPDM in the world and will be sold under the brand name Keltan Eco.
The bio-based ethylene is produced by dehydrating ethanol from Brazilian sugar cane and will be supplied
by Braskem via pipeline to Lanxess’s existing EPDM plant in Brazil, where it currently produces 40,000 tonnes/year of regular EPDM. It is expected that the first batches of the Keltan Eco will amount to
several hundred tonnes. (PRA)
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