News release
Polybutadiene rubber
Safe oils for high-performance tires
EU directive requires DAE plasticizer oils to be phased out /
LANXESS manages switch to alternatives in record time
LANXESS Deutschland GmbH
Contact: Hans-Joachim Vitz
Corporate Communications
Trade & Technical Press
51369 Leverkusen
Germany
Phone: +49 214 30-58538
Fax: +49 214 30-44865
hans-joachim.vitz@lanxess.com
Page 1 of 3
Leverkusen – EU Directive 2005/69/EC is quite clear: From 2010, the
tire industry in the EU will have to do without the widely used DAE oils.
Leverkusen-based chemicals group LANXESS was one of the first
producers of performance rubbers for tire production to rise to this
challenge. The synthetic rubber manufacturer added SSBR grades
(solution styrene-butadiene rubber) to its range of polybutadiene
rubbers at the start of 2006, which offer users the means to switch
easily to safe alternatives. The first commercial products with this rubber
are already on the market. “Our speed in providing these new grades
reinforces our reputation as a top supplier in the tire industry,” says
Christoph Kalla, Vice President Marketing at LANXESS’s Polybutadiene
Rubber business unit.
DAE oils attracted the European Commission’s attention as they had led
to the development of skin cancer in animal testing. Polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are present in significant proportions in
DAE oils, are regarded as the trigger. The approximately 60,000 metric
tons of tire deposited on German roads each year are estimated to be
responsible for releasing six metric tons of PAHs into the environment.
“Although no carcinogenic effects have been proven in tire mixtures
containing DAE,” says Kalla, “the ban on these oils is understandable.
Yet this presents major challenges to the industry. DAE oils cannot
easily be replaced in tire production.”
This is because, in the past few decades, tires have developed into
extremely complex products that not only play a key role in driving
comfort, they also have considerably improved vehicle safety. The
correct choice of tire can also boost vehicle fuel efficiency. “The success
of modern tires with such superior properties is due in no small measure
to the fact that, over the years, the rubber formulations used have been
continuously improved and stabilized, which is also thanks to LANXESS
experts.”
LANXESS Deutschland GmbH
Contact: Hans-Joachim Vitz
Corporate Communications
Trade & Technical Press
51369 Leverkusen
Germany
Plasticizer oils are a key ingredient of modern, highly optimized rubber
formulations. They can also be added to rubber on a scale up to 30 % to
enhance its processing properties. However, as all other rubber
components have been tailored to DAE oils, replacing them entails a
certain outlay. Simply substituting them with alternatives whose safety
levels are acknowledged, such as TDAE and MES oils, would lower the
viscosity and glass temperature of rubber mixtures and impair the
performance of products produced with these – or it would require
complex and therefore costly new development of rubber mixtures.
Phone: +49 214 30-58538
Fax: +49 214 30-44865
hans-joachim.vitz@lanxess.com
“As one of the leading synthetic rubber manufacturer, we felt compelled
to make the impending switch as easy as possible for our customers,”
remarks Kalla. “Thanks to an extensive R&D structure, probably unique
to LANXESS – after all, as a synthetic rubber inventor, we are the
manufacturer with the world’s greatest experience in handling and
developing these materials – we managed to develop alternative
rubbers with safe TDAE plasticizer oils in record time.” To absorb the
side effects from using TDAE, the micro and macro structures of the
rubber molecules were – where necessary – adapted in LANXESS
laboratories and initial experiments with these alternatives were
conducted at LANXESS in 2004. Production tests followed shortly
afterwards in the pilot plant at the rubber Technical Service Center – an
option that only very few rubber producers can boast. “In 2005, i.e.
before the EU Directive was implemented into German law, we were
able to give samples to the first customers with a view to working with
them on developing the new customized SSBR grades,” explains Kalla.
DAE oil-free alternatives are now available for all LANXESS SSBR
grades.
The new DAE oil-free rubbers from LANXESS minimize the time and
costs involved in tire manufacturers making the changeover, while
ensuring that products also maintain their optimal characteristics profile
afterwards. “The positive feedback we have received from our
customers re-affirms that we are on the right course,” says Kalla. “We
wish to continue impressing our partners in the tire industry, especially
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with high-performance rubbers that ultimately help them gain and
maintain the lead on their markets. In projects such as this, we can see
how the extremely close linkage between marketing and application
technology – a key characteristic of LANXESS’s new, streamline and
effective organizational structures – helps put the focus firmly on
customer needs.”
LANXESS Deutschland GmbH
Contact: Hans-Joachim Vitz
Corporate Communications
Trade & Technical Press
51369 Leverkusen
Germany
Information for editors:
All our news releases and photos can be found on the LANXESS
homepage at www.lanxess.com under the “Press” button. Any available
visual material can also be downloaded from there.
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Leverkusen, July 3, 2006
erb/als
(2006-0136e)
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts
made by LANXESS AG management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation,
development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. The company assumes no
liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or
developments.
Phone: +49 214 30-58538
Fax: +49 214 30-44865
hans-joachim.vitz@lanxess.com