IN light of the growing demand for solution styrene-butadiene rubber (SSBR), Japanese firm JSR increased the capacity of its Yokkaichi plant from 25,000 to 60,000 tonnes/year last year. It also has a 30,000-tonne/year SSBR facility with Styron in Europe and…
Category: Technology
Biodegradable shoe takes cue from Amazon
IN the Amazon, slipping on shoes is as simple as painting a thin layer of latex on an individual’s feet. Based on this concept, Spanish firm One Moment has developed a 2 mm thick biodegradable shoe made by injecting natural…
Second orange oil tyre from Yokohama
JAPANESE firm Yokohama Tyre’s Avid Ascend tyre features its orange oil technology. Made at its US plant, the tyre is suited to a variety of applications ranging from crossover vehicles and passenger cars to minivans.It is said to possess a…
Lab line for rubber profiles
GERMAN firm KraussMaffei Berstorff’s LabStar line is suited for rubber profile production in laboratory applications. With a material use of 8 kg/hour, it is suited for low output rates and single component profiles. It is targeted at compound development applications,…
New asphalt technology from Kraton
US-based producer of styrenic block copolymers Kraton Performance Polymers partnered with the National Centre for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) to test its HIMA technology on a pavement test track. According to Kraton, the findings show that a modified binder using its…
Gevo gets patent for technology to produce isobutanol
GEVO, a US-based renewable chemicals and biofuels company, has received a patent to enable commercially viable production of isobutanol from yeast. Since yeast naturally produces isobutanol at low yields, the new technology allows production for commercial applications by eliminating barriers…
Zymer to enhance end-product performance
A NANO-engineered rubber technology is set to add new strength and conductivity to rubber compounds. Called Zyvex molecularly-engineered rubber (Zymer), the technology comes from US-based Zyvex technologies. Zymer uses a new chemical process to allow carbon nanotubes to be inserted…
Chinese EPDM plant to use Italian technology
ITALIAN petrochemical technology firm FasTech has licensed its EPDM technology to petrochemical firm Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Yanan Energy and Chemical that will build a 50,000 tonne/year-plant in Xian. Yanchang’s plant will start up in 2014 and will be fed with…
VMI’s latest tyre building machine
DUTCH rubber and tyre machinery supplier VMI has launched its Exxium car and light truck tyre building machine that has a cycle time of 44 seconds. The machine can handle 12”-24” rim diameter tyres and can be automated. With more…
Vystar’s first Chinese patent
US-BASED Vystar has received its third US and first Chinese patents for its Vytex natural rubber latex (NRL). The US patent expands the claims beyond just reducing proteins and recognises that the process also reduces the level of non-rubber components…