China Should Speed up the Development of SSBR   

By Wang Yuying  Research Institute of PetroChina Jilin Petrochemical Company

Production of SSBR now is very small in China

As of the end of 2010, there were only four solution-polymerized styrene butadiene rubber (SSBR) plants in China, with a total production capacity of 260 000 t/a, which accounts for 20.6% of the country's total production capacity of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR). SSBR manufacturers and their capacity in China are shown in Table 1.
                                             
Table 1  SSBR manufacturers in China in 2010     (thousand t/a)
Manufacturer    Capacity    Product grade
Sinopec Yanshan Petrochemical Company    30    Y833A, Y833B, Y833C, Y833E
Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical Company    30    F1204 , F1206,  F375 , F376
Sinopec Shanghai Gaoqiao Petrochemical Company    100    T2003,  T1534,  T2530
PetroChina Dushanzi Petrochemical Company    100    
Total    260

   Sinopec Yanshan Petrochemical Company is China's first SSBR plant and uses the single-reactor batch polymerization process. Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical Company's SSBR unit was built with the Belgian Fina technology in 1997. These two units have now shifted to produce SBS (poly(styrene-butadiene-styrene)) after technological transformations. In June 2006, Sinopec Shanghai Gaoqiao Petrochemical Company used Japan's Asahi-Kasei continuous solution polymerization technology to build a 100 000 t/a SSBR multifunctional unit for SBS, SSBR and low-cis 1,4-polybutadiene (LCBR)).  In September 2009, PetroChina Dushanzi Petrochemical Company's 100 000 t/a SSBR unit was put into trial. This unit uses Italy's PolimefiEuropa (former EniChem) solution polymerization technology, however, it has not run normally and has always been in trial. Due to product quality, homemade SSBR occupies a very small share in the domestic market, and the operating rate of domestic SSBR plants has been low. In 2010, China's total SSBR output was 59 000 tons, including Gaoqiao Petrochemical's 53 000 tons and Dushanzi Petrochemical's 6 000 tons.
    In the next few years, there will be no new/expanded SSBR projects in China. Thus, the country's SSBR capacity and output will have no major changes in the short term.

SSBR has bright market prospects in China

In Europe and the United States, SSBR is mainly used for the production of tires (especially tread rubber), also for polystyrene modification, footwear and various light-colored rubber products. In Japan, in addition to for tires applications, SSBR is also extensively used for polystyrene modification. But in China, SSBR is mainly used to make shoes. Because China-made SSBR have a low vinyl content, its anti-slippery performance, rolling resistance and quality stability cannot reach the levels of kind products abroad. Thus, it is generally used in the production of bias tires. In China, the SSBR for radial tires is mainly sourced from multinationals. Some domestic tire producers, such as Rongcheng Chengshan Tire Co Ltd, Hualin Tire Co Ltd, Pearl River Tires Co Ltd and Jiangsu Tire Plant, make efforts to use China-made SSBR to produce bias tires.
   The popularity of radial tires, especially the development of new-type and energy-saving radial tires, has put higher requirements on the performances of synthetic rubbers. Rubber for tires is needed to have a high strength and good anti-slippery performance as well as  low rolling resistance (out of vehicle fuel, 10% - 20% is used to overcome rolling resistance of tires). Emulsification-polymerized styrene butadiene rubber (ESBR) has a good anti-slippery performance but high rolling resistance. Natural rubber and cis-1,4-polybutadiene rubber have a low rolling resistance but a poor anti-slippery performance. Only SSBR have both good anti-slippery performance and low rolling resistance. Compared with tires made from ESBR, tires made from new-type SSBR can reduce rolling resistance by 30%, increase the anti-slippery performance by 3% and wear resistance by 11%, and reduce fuel consumption by 5% to 6%. Currently, the uses of radial tires have already reached 80% in developed countries, but only 37% in China. SSBR has good application prospects in the radial tire sector in China. Therefore, China should accelerate the development of SSBR to meet the needs of its economic growth.