QINGDAO, Shandong—Chinese rubber and machinery manufacturing group Mesnac expects its rubber wet-mixing production plant in Qingdao to come on stream in 2023.
The facility will have a capacity of 300,000 metric tons per year. It will produce chemically mixed compounds, dubbed EVEC, to support the production of 120 million passenger car tires per year, Mesnac said during a Nov. 22 product launch at its flagship machinery production plant in Qingdao.
The compound, according to the Chinese group, allows liquid rubber produced by upstream rubber companies to be directly used in the chemical mixing process, "without the need for cohesion and post-treatment."
The material also can help downstream tire makers avoid multi-stage mixing, the group said.
Mesnac-controlled Ecombine Advanced Materials started construction on the mixing plant in June, using technology developed by another Mesnac affiliate Eve Rubber Research Institute.
At the time, Mesnac said tires produced with the compounds could meet EU tire label's class A standards in wet grip and meet class B standards in rolling resistance.
Describing the material as "liquid gold" of the tire industry, Mesnac said the compound could "markedly boost" all season tires' performances, raising abrasion resistance by up to 40 percent and lowering rolling resistance by 30 percent.
The project is expected to sell $1.5 billion worth of the rubber material annually when fully on-stream.
