Rubber Journal Asia Industry News • Chinese tyre maker Linglong Tire is setting up a global R&D and technology base in Jinan, Shandong province. Linglong says it will make full use of Jinan’s economic advantages, convenient transportation advantages and talent concentration advantages. • The Serbian subsidiary of Cooper Tire is investing US$8 million to increase production capacity at its Kruševac tyre manufacturing plant and increasing it to more than 882,000 sq ft, with equipment upgrades and 118 new jobs to Cooper Tire Serbia. It will manufacture light truck tyres, including 4 x 4 tyres, and large diameter tyres up to 22 in. • German chemicals firm Evonik’s multi-purpose silicones manufacturing facility in Geesthacht, Germany, is now fully operational after completing final commissioning tests and gaining the necessary authority approvals. It is now producing the silicones and silyl-terminated polymers (SMP’s) used in parquet adhesive flooring, liquid membranes for roofing or electronical potting applications. • Carbon black supplier Orion Engineered Carbons has upgraded its emissions controls at its Texas, US, plant, to comply with strengthened environmental standards and reduce emission permits for NOx and SO2 by 2,300 tonnes/year of air pollutant emissions. • India’s Apollo Tyres has virtually inaugurated a new manufacturing facility housed within its plant in Vadodara, Gujarat. The modular 10,000 sq m facility will produce 30,000 two-wheeler radial tyres/month and 60,000 cross ply tyres/ month for the two-wheeler industry. Already commanding a
double-digit market share in the premium two-wheeler segment in India, Apollo is aiming to secure leadership in the segment and service the global markets with high-end bias and steel radial tyres. • Malaysian condom manufacturer Karex Bhd is planning to build a new facility for rubberbased medical gloves at its Innotex (Thailand) Ltd. (ITL) base in Hatyai. ITL currently manufactures condoms, personal lubricants and other rubber products including catheters but intends to produce at least 2.5 billion gloves/year made from nitrile, natural rubber and any other new materials. The new glove manufacturing business will first have a production capacity of up to 500 million gloves/year from two production lines, while the remainder will be gradually set up over the course of the next 48 months. The company estimated that the initial production phase will require a capital expenditure of around RM40 million. • Danish wind energy and green tech development company WindSpace has signed an agreement with Canada’s Environmental Waste International Inc. (EWS) for the use of its patented reverse polymerisation technology and proprietary microwave delivery system for its first plant in Nyborg, Denmark. The agreement also includes a long-term partnership between the companies and a mutual exclusivity agreement for the development and installation of waste tyre recycling plants across Europe. WindSpace has been working on the establishment of Elysium Nordic, a tyre recycling project in Nyborg, Denmark since 2018. It will be capable of
processing 30,000 tonnes of endof-life tyres/year, with planned start of construction during Q1 2021 EWS’s proprietary system for processing rubber tyres via a unique microwave technology recovers highly valuable commodities, including reclaimed carbon black (rCB), steel, syn gas and oil. • US speciality tyre maker Maxam Tire has opened a new advanced and automated solid tyre production facility, with compound advancement and automated technology. Danvers, Massachusetts-based tyre maker says it has established a strong reputation throughout the world, selling products across all specialty tyre segments in North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. It adds that its new production facility will serve the industries core solid tyre segments including material handling, skid steer, telehandler and loader. Phase one production has officially launched with considerations for future production expansion. • Malaysia’s Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PCG) and South Korea’s LG Chem have tied up to build a nitrile butadiene (NBR) latex manufacturing plant at the Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) in the southern state of Johor, targeting the growing nitrile glove market and further strengthening Malaysia’s position as the largest exporter of gloves globally. PCG said construction of the plant will begin in 2021 while production is scheduled to start in 2023. It will have a production capacity of 200,000 tonnes/year when completed. PCG and LG Chem will also work together to offer various grades and new applications of NBR as well as develop high-value added products through continuous R&D and investments, according to PCG.
2 AUGUST 2020
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