China Sunsine to expand rubber chemicals production

HENGSHUN, Shandong—Singapore-based China Sunsine Chemical Holdings Ltd. is expanding its rubber chemicals production in Shanxian, Shandong Province, to address growing demand for the products within the rubber industry.

In an Oct. 3 ceremony, the group broke ground for two projects to add a production line for intermediate product MBT and expand insoluble sulfur capacity at its Hengshun site.

The rubber chemicals supplier is investing about $13.5 million (Yuan 100 million) in doubling insoluble sulfur output at the existing facility to 60,000 metric tons per year (60 ktpa) by the end of 2023, the company said in an Oct. 11 business update.

The group currently has a total capacity to produce 60 ktpa of insoluble sulfur; consisting of 10 ktpa in Shandong Sunsine, 20 ktpa in Shandong Shengtao Chemical Co., and 30 ktpa in Shandong Hengshun New Material Co.

According to business update, the 10 ktpa production line in Shandong Sunsine was built in 2010 and "has old equipment and outdated production technology."

As a result, the group plans to "phase out this production line eventually."

Furthermore, the Shengtao Chemical plant is not located in a chemical industrial park and therefore the group expects the government to eventually require it to be relocated, although no formal notice of relocation has been received to date.

According to the Singapore-based group, the 30 ktpa production line in Hengshun has almost reached its full capacity and therefore "the time is ripe to start the phase 2 project to add another 30 ktpa."

The insoluble sulfur plant will have a "one-step" or continuous production technology, developed by Shandong Sunsine.

The group is also investing about $27.7 million in an MBT production facility at the site to support "continuing growth and expansion."

The manufacturer said its production volume of rubber accelerators, CBS and TBBS, have been increasing progressively and as a result its demand for MBT has grown.

Currently, the group buys 20 ktpa of MBT from third party suppliers to meet its requirements.

With the new project, the site will produce a total 60 ktpa of MBT in two phases.

Phase 1, set for completion by the end of 2023, will manufacture 20 ktpa of the material.

China Sunsine said the reason behind the investment was that the external purchase of MBT costs the group Yuan 320 million per year, based on the current market price, and is "not be stable."

Under the project, the group said it is adopting a new production technology jointly developed by Shandong Sunsine's R&D team and Tsinghua University's professor Chen Bing Zhen.

The new technology, it said, achieves continuous production of MBT and improves MBT conversion rate compared to current acid-based treatment technology.

The process is also claimed to produce "a small amount of waste salt and wastewater."