Rubber sheets are on the road to recovery, with both production and shipments on the rise. With the market having been hit by COVID-19, figures for May 2020 slumped by more than 25 percent year-on-year; but the economy then started to recover in the following months, showing only a quite small year-on-year decline for October onward. And for the January–March...
Kato Sansho Co. Ltd. has worked with Ichinen Chemicals Co. Ltd. to develop One Bio, a series of biomass additives derived from plants. One Bio B-001 is an 80 percent plant-derived additive that can be simply mixed with polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) – materials which make up around half of Japan’s plastics market – to raise the biomass content...
PJSC Nizhnekamskneftekhim (NKNK), Russia’s second largest synthetic rubber manufacturer, held an opening ceremony on May 26 for a new solution-polymerized styrene–butadiene rubber (S-SBR) plant. Incorporating technology and basic design from Japan’s ETIC Inc, it represents the Tatarstanian-based company’s first foray into S-SBR production. Among those present for the ceremony was the president of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov. With a production capacity...
Bridgestone Americas Inc. has announced that subsidiary Firestone Industrial Products LLC (FSIP) is set to boost its production capacity for air springs at a plant in Williamsburg, Kentucky. Total investment in this expansion is slated to come to $51 million, with construction to begin in the second quarter of this year and wrap up by the end of 2022. The...
Trinseo SA, a manufacturer of plastics, latex binders and synthetic rubber, has announced a definitive agreement to sell its synthetic rubber business to Polish company Synthos SA. Based in Schkopau, Germany, Trinseo’s synthetic rubber business has been valued at approximately $491 million. After subtracting pension liabilities, transaction-related costs and taxes, the net cash proceeds from the sale are expected to...
Sumitomo Riko Co. Ltd. (TYO:5191) has seen its Finesulight series of thin films with high thermal insulation functionality get picked up for use in the BioBox Freezer, a dry ice-compatible, ultrahigh-performance thermal insulation box offered by Sugiyama-Gen Co. Ltd. Allowing for storage at below minus 70 degrees Celsius without the need for electricity, this freezer box is expected to find...
