Chapter 6.15: Synthetic Rubber

Editorial Department, China Chemical News and China Chemical Industry Yearbook

Production

In 2000, nitrile rubber capacity increased by 15,000 tons per annum, and the total capacity of synthetic rubber rose significantly. Currently, China has six varieties of synthetic rubber, and with the exception of isoprene rubber (IR), all other general purpose synthetic rubbers can be manufactured in China. At the end of 2000, there were 14 producers with 26 sets of facilities. The total capacity came to 1,044,000 tons per annum, of which the capacity of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) by emulsion polymerization (E-SBR) was 360,000 tons per annum, and cis-butadiene rubber (BR) 425,000 tons per annum. These manufacturers produce not only general purpose synthetic rubber (excluding latex), but also SBS thermoplastic elastomers. China is still the fourth producer of synthetic rubber after the USA, Russia and Japan.

Latex is also a major product of the synthetic rubber industry. Styrene butadiene latex is the largest variety, with an output of 17 “20 per cent of the synthetic rubber total. China currently owns five large-scale SBR latex production facilities, with a total output of about 140,000 tons per annum. However, there are only a few brands of SBR latex, and the products lack competitive power.

Table 6.15.1: Major domestic synthetic rubber producers and capacity in 2,000,000 tons per annum

Producer	BR	E-SBR	S-SBR	SBS	NBR	CR	EPR	IIR
Yanshan Petrochem. Co Rubber Plant	120		30	30			30
Qilu Petrochem.Co Rubber Plant	50	130
50	50
Yuehua Rubber Plant	30			50
Shanghai Gaoqiao Petrochem. Co	15 [*]
	80
Xinjiang Dushanzi Petrochem. Co	20
Daqing Petrochem. Works	50
Jihua Co Organic Synthesis Plant		90			10 [**]
Lanhua Co Organic Synthesis Plant		40			19
Jiangsu Nantong Shenhua Co		100
Ethylene Co,Maoming Petrochem Co	10		30	10
Shanxi Synthesis Rubber Group						20
Sichuan Changshou Chemical Plant						13
Shandong Qingdao Chemical Plant						7 [***]
Total	425	360	60	90	29	40	20	30
[*] Production ceased in June 1998; [**] concurrent production on E-SBR unit not shown in total capacity; [***] production ceased

Table 6.15.2: Major domestic SBR latex producers and capacity in 2,000 000 tons per annum

Producer	Capacity
Gaoqiao BASF Co	110
Qilu Petrochemical Co	10
Lanzhou Chemical Co	6
Yanshan Petrochemical Co	5
Zibo Heli Latex Co	5

In 2000, the total output of synthetic rubber in China (including SBS) was 703,000 tons, with only a slight increase of 1.4 per cent over 1999 (694 000 tons).SBS enjoyed the highest growth. Technical transformation allowed the SBS output of Yueyang Petrochemical Rubber Plant and Maoming Perochemical Ethylene Plant to surpass their designed capacity, and brought the rate of capacity utilisation to 148.4 per cent. In 2000, SBR decreased by a significant margin owing to the limitation imposed on output. The plant owned by Yanshan Petrochemical Group and intended to manufacture SBR by solvent polymerization (SSBR) did not go into production in 2000. Over recent years , several facilities for IIR, NBR and EPR have been set up, whose market capacities all surpass the total designed capacities of the existing domestic facilities. However, these newly built plants all have low capacity utilization of no more than 40 per cent. Their market share is also low at 9 per cent, 20 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.