Trinseo to build styrene butadiene rubber pilot plant in Germany

Trinseo - formerly known as Styron and the manufacturer of plastics, latex binders and synthetic rubber - plans to build a new solution-styrene butadiene rubber (S-SBR) pilot plant in Schkopau, Germany, for its synthetic rubber business. The S-SBR pilot plant will allow for more efficient use of Trinseo’s production facilities and help speed up innovation in the performance tyres market. The pilot plant will begin operation in Q4 2017.

Trinseo’s new S-SBR pilot plant will quicken the development process from lab sample to commercialization. The pilot plant will also deliver sufficient quantities of new S-SBR formulations required for real-life tire testing. This speedy evaluation of both process and product parameters meets customer needs for reducing product validation time. As a result, the faster testing process accelerates the time to market for new performance tire innovations.

“This strategic investment will allow us to be more agile and flexible than ever before in our ability to turn around S-SBR product testing. “The pilot plant will be a valuable technology capability, enabling us to bring S-SBR materials to our customers more efficiently and help performance tire makers meet new market trends,” commented Samer Al Jabi, global business director for synthetic rubber, Trinseo.