Michelin, IFP Energies nouvelles, and Axens have opened France’s first industrial-scale prototype facility to produce butadiene derived from biomass at Michelin’s plant in Bassens, near Bordeaux. The facility was built as part of the BioButterfly project, in which the three companies are participating with the support of the French ecological transition agency Adem with the aim of producing butadiene from...
The Bio-monomer Production Laboratory has developed a new, world-first technology able to efficiently create butadiene from biomass. Consisting of members from Riken, Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5101) and Zeon Corp. (TYO:4205), the research team has then succeeded at using butadiene created with this technology to produce butadiene rubber. At present, butadiene is produced industrially from fossil resources such as petroleum....
Butadiene prices in the Asian market dropped back slightly for 2018 after surging up in 2017. This then formed the topic at a recent executive meeting of the Japan Rubber Manufacturers Association (JRMA), with the association covering a range of information about trends in the market. Looking back, the meeting highlighted that butadiene prices continued to rise – in conjunction...
Kuraray Co. Ltd. (TYO:3405) announced on March 7 that it has inked a joint venture agreement with Sumitomo Corp. (TYO:8053) and Thai-based PTT Global Chemical PCL (PTTGC) for a butadiene derivative business. The three companies began detailed feasibility studies in September 2016. Ahead of the final decision on investment, they signed an agreement to hold further discussions and to file...
Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. signed a cooperation agreement on Sept. 7 with Air Liquide Engineering & Construction, a subsidiary of French firm Air Liquide SA. Under the agreement, Air Liquide E&C will license Mitsubishi Chemical’s process for manufacturing butadiene from n-butene. The aim is to develop a technology licensing business by packaging together Mitsubishi Chemical’s butene to crude butadiene production technology...
The price of butadiene is increasing dramatically. After trending for some time at an Asian spot price near $1,000 per ton, the synthetic rubber raw material started on a rapidly ascending curve in autumn last year. It has resulted in a tripling in value, jumping to approximately $3,000 per ton. The sharp gain in butadiene will have a strong impact...
