11 Jul 2025
Set for operation next year, Yamaguchi facility to produce butadiene from bio-based ethanol
Tokyo - Zeon Corp has broken ground on a bench-scale facility to produce "highly efficiently" butadiene from ethanol derived from biomass and other sources.
The unit will be built at Zeon’s Tokuyama plant in Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, and is scheduled to come online in 2026, said Zeon 10 July.
The unit will be used to validate the process, with the Tokuyama plant then producing prototypes of polybutadiene rubber from the butadiene produced.
Zeon said it aims to commercialise the technology by 2034, with a pilot plant scheduled by 2030.
The initiative is part of a joint R&D programme with Yokohama Rubber Co. to develop sustainable butadiene and isoprene production technologies. (ERJ report)
Under the plan, Yokohama will make tires from the produced rubber and conduct performance testing.
Data from the pilot facility will help inform the development of large-scale production capabilities, Zeon said.
The project is supported by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).
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