Japan’s Zeon Corp. has completed construction of a bench-scale facility at its Tokuyama Plant (Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture) to demonstrate technology for production of butadiene from ethanol derived from plant-based and other sustainable materials. Construction of the facility began in July 2025. The facility is scheduled to begin full-scale operation in January 2027 toward achieving commercialisation by 2034.
A ceremony marking the facility’s completion was held at the site recently, and included guests from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI; Tokyo, Japan), the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO; Kawasaki, Japan), Yamaguchi Prefecture, Shunan City, and Yokohama Rubber, as well as representatives from the construction contractor and other related companies, along with Zeon officials including Corporate Officer and Tokuyama Plant Manager Akira Honma.
This project is one of two R&D themes being undertaken by Zeon and Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. (Hiratsuka, Japan) and supported by NEDO’s Green Innovation Fund Projects. The two companies aim to achieve the social implementation in the 2030s of technology for the production of butadiene and isoprene from plant-based and other sustainable materials.
Zeon will also develop a prototype polybutadiene rubber using butadiene made at the bench-scale facility. Yokohama Rubber will then develop prototype tyres using the butadiene rubber and conduct driving tests to collect data for a large-scale demonstration.
The two companies intend to establish the technology for social implementation by 2030 using a pilot facility to demonstrate the technology, which is targeted for commercialisation in 2034.