HANOVER, Germany—Asahi Kasei is considering plans to expand its production of solution styrene butadiene rubber (SSBR) in response to growing market demand, officials said at TTE expo in Hanover.
The expansion will likely involve a major debottlenecking of the company's dedicated SSBR facility in Singapore, which has a current output rating of 100,000 metric ton per year.
A 20-30 percent capacity expansion of the continuous polymerization facility is a "realistic target," a company spokesman said in Germany.
The Singapore unit, which was opened in 2013, is one of three Asahi synthetic rubber production facilities.
Asahi also operates two plants in Japan: a 101,000 tons per year continuous facility in Kawasaki and a 35,000 tons per year batch unit in Oita.
Both Japanese facilities produce SSBR, butadiene rubber and elastomers — styrene-butadiene and hydrogenated styrene butadiene blocl copolymers.
A broader feature story on Asahi's SR will appear in the March/April issue of European Rubber Journal magazine.