MOL increases butadiene production, to build rubber plant

Budapest – Hungarian petrochemical group MOL has started production at its new butadiene plant in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary and is set to build a synthetic rubber unit nearby in cooperation with Japan’s Synthetic Rubber Corporation (JSR).

According to a press release on 10 Nov, the 130-kilotonne-year (ktpa) butadiene extraction unit has been commissioned and full commercial operations are expected to begin in the current quarter.

The unit was constructed with an investment of $150 million (€140 million) and will produce feedstock for a synthetic rubber production plant to be built adjacent to the facility.

Through a joint venture with Japan’s Synthetic Rubber Corporation (JSR), MOL will also start the construction of a new plant to manufacture 60,000 tonnes of S-SBR (solution polymerisation styrene-butadiene rubber) per year.

According to the press release the groundwork of the new plant will begin in November 2015.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, MOL chairman and CEO Zsolt Hernadi said that the construction of the rubber plant would cost approximately cost twice as much as the butadiene plant.

Once operational, the SSBR plant will use one-thirds of the Tiszaujvaros butadiene as the key off take, an MOL spokesman told ERJ.

“The rest will be sold mostly to European markets,” he added.

The mechanical completion of the rubber plant is expected to take place within 2017. MOL group holds a 49-percent stake in the joint venture whilst the remaining 51 percent is owned by JSR.