Speciality chemicals firm Lanxess has recently broken ground for its new neodymium-based performance butadiene rubber (Nd-PBR) plant in Singapore.
The company is investing around EUR 200 million ( S$ 317 million) in a 140,000 tonnes per annum facility on Jurong Island, which is expected to start up in the first half of 2015. It will be the largest of its kind globally and will serve the growing market for “Green Tyres”, as well as create an estimated 100 jobs.
Nd-PBR is used in the treads and sidewalls of “Green Tyres”, and can boost their fuel efficiency whilst reducing their rolling resistance. The Nd-PBR makes tyres safer, more durable and high resistant to abrasion.
The Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore (Private) Limited will supply the majority of the key raw material butadiene needed to produce Nd-PBR, while Singapore’s TP Utilities Pte. Ltd. (a wholly-owned unit of Tuas Power Ltd.) will provide steam to the new plant. Foster Wheeler Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. has been selected to carry out the detailed engineering and construction of the plant.
“We are delighted to be bringing another major rubber investment to Singapore, which underlines our commitment to ‘Green Mobility’,”said Lanxess hairman of the Board of Management, Axel C. Heitmann, at the groundbreaking event on Jurong Island. “It is our company’s focus on technology that makes it possible to reduce rolling resistance in tyres and thus fuel consumption. This is good news for the consumer and the environment.”
Angelika Viets, the German Ambassador to Singapore and Leo Yip, the Chairman of the Singaporean Economic Development Board were also at the event.