German chemical producer Lanxess (Leverkusen; www.lanxess.com) has announced plans to build a new plant for EPDM rubber in China at a cost of EUR 235m. Due to start up in 2015, the 160,000 t/y facility, billed as the world’s largest, is at the same time the company’s biggest investment in the People’s Republic. It will use the “ACE” advanced catalyst process acquired in the 2011 takeover of DSM Elastomers – see Plasteurope.com of 15.12.2010.

The plant will be located at Changzhou Yangtze Riverside Industrial Park, with close access to storage and ship uploading facilities. Key feedstocks ethylene and propylene will be sourced from a methanol-to-olefins (MTO) plant currently under construction at the site. Lanxess, which markets its EPDM under the “Keltan” trademark acquired with the DSM deal, sees Chinese demand as increasing by more than 4% annually over the next few years, driven in particular by automotive and construction applications. China’s vast needs will continue to be met through imports, it says.

Other international EPDM producers also are seeking to gain a foothold in the growing Chinese market. In a joint venture with Chinese state-owned petrochemicals giant Sinopec (Beijing; www.sinopec.com), Japan’s Mitsui (Tokyo; www.mitsui.com) will produce 75,000 t/y of the rubber specialty starting in 2014 at Shanghai Chemical Industry Park – see Plasteurope.com of 01.06.2012.

Lanxess currently produces EPDM at Geleen / The Netherlands (160,000 t/y), Marl / Germany (70,000 t/y), Orange, Texas / USA (70,000 t/y) and Triunfo / Brazil (40,000 t/y). About half of capacity at the Geleen site is planned to be converted to the ACE technology in 2013. In Asia, the German company will start up a world-scale butyl rubber plant on Singapore’s Jurong Island in Q1 2013 and is also planning a butadiene rubber plant at the site. Since late 2011, it has been commercially producing its “Keltan Eco” EPDM from bio-based sugar cane supplied by Braskem (Sao Paulo / Brazil; www.braskem.com.br).