Veerappa Moily dedicates India's first styrene butadiene rubber plant to nation

Petroleum Minister Dr Veerappa Moily, on November 29, 2013, dedicated to nation India’s first state-of-the-art Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) plant at Panipat, Harayana. The project is considered as a path breaking venture of national importance as there is no operating capacity in the country and the entire domestic demand is met through imports. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC), Taiwan’s TSRC Corporation and Japan’s Marubeni Corporation are joint venture partners in project implemented under the banner of Indian Synthetic Rubber Ltd (ISRL). It is based on butadiene available from IOC’s Panipat naphtha cracker complex.
 
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Completed at an estimated cost of Rs 958 crore, the project is designed to produce 120 KTA of high quality styrene butadiene rubber. SBR is suitable to produce various products like tyres, conveyor belts, hose, shoe soles, industrial goods, etc with superior processing properties like flexing resistance, tear and cracking resistance, improved abrasive resistance, etc.
 
In the current scenario, synthetic rubber consumption has increased due to the rapid industrialisation of the Indian economy. The tyre sector is the largest end-use sector for synthetic rubber in India. SBR, which accounts for 40% of the total synthetic rubber demand, is consumed mostly in the tyre sector. As the tyre production in India is increasing at a fast pace, the synthetic rubber consumption has also simultaneously increased. This manufacturing unit of SBR was planned in the backdrop of this increasing demand for synthetic rubber and to reduce India’s import dependency.