BERWYN, Pa.—As indicated by the company last week at K2016, Trinseo is to expand production capacity for solution-styrene-butadiene rubber, in response to rising demand for the material in high performance tires.
The company announced on Oct. 24 that it's production facility in Schjopau, Germany, will go through an asset upgrade to add an extra 50 kiloton per year of SSBR capacity.
The additional output, expected in January 2018, will increase Trinseo's global SSBR production by 33 percent.
“This investment is in line with Trinseo's strategy to grow our Performance Materials businesses, in particular our SSBR business, which has seen very strong market demand,” said Hayati Yarkadas, senior vice president and business president, Performance Materials.
This expansion, he added, is the “fastest solution to meet our customers' growing demand for our Sprintan rubber products, as well as next generation development grades of advanced S-SBR.”
Trinseo claims that its Sprintan SSBR grades lower rolling resistance in tires and increase wet grip and durability.
“Our expansion of S-SBR is a direct response to customers' demand, and consistent with sustainability trends around the world,” said Samer Al-Jabi, global business director for synthetic rubber.