Interview with Ron Commander: "Much more than rubber for innerliners"
The brand-new plant for butyl rubber was officially inaugurated in Singapore on June 4. It represents LANXESS' single largest investment in the company's history. We spoke to the Head of the Butyl Rubber business unit, Ron Commander.
Singapore - LANXESS: Congratulations, Mr. Commander. A new star has arisen on the butyl rubber horizon…
Ron Commander: This is the largest investment to date in the company's history, and underlines the importance of our rubber business being perfectly positioned in the strategic heart of Asia. We were well positioned in the butyl rubber business - and significantly improved that position today. We have invested to become the first supplier with a wholly owned global manufacturing footprint for butyl rubber. With production sites around the globe in North America and Europe we now have added a world-scale plant in Asia and have reached that target.
This plant is in line with a series of investments to increase the butyl rubber capacity worldwide: we implemented debottlenecking at our Belgium and Canadian sites and added large capacities to serve our customers and commit to their growth.
The new plant in Singapore is the most technologically advanced plant for synthetic rubber production in all of Asia - if not in the entire world. It is the result of the development of next-generation butyl technology targeting an entirely new production process and achieving even higher resource utilization efficiency.
Some 10 percent of the cost of the plant went into technologies to reduce the plant's consumption of energy and water and to minimize emissions. This plant consumes less steam than our two existing facilities and enjoys a smaller environmental footprint. This is something we can all be proud of!
LANXESS: Who are your main customers?
Ron Commander: Butyl rubber is primarily used in the production of tires. Featuring in the inner liner of the tire, its high air impermeability ensures that tires are properly inflated over a long period, meaning that vehicles consume less fuel and generate fewer harmful emissions. The use of halobutyl rubber in inner liners made modern tires possible.
A new application is for bromobutyl is in tire treads. Used there, bromobutyl rubber enhances the characteristics of tires by improving both grip and the associated wet braking performance without compromising on rolling resistance.
LANXESS: So tire manufacturers are your customers?
Ron Commander: Yes, but butyl rubber is much more than rubber for innerliners.
Also, Urbanization in China leads to a rapidly growing improvement in the medical care system… and our halobutyl rubber is product of choice for pharmaceutical closures! We are confident, that increasing purity requirements will drive out low-quality producers, so that our material will be used even more for closures for infusion containers, pipette assemblies and plungers for prefilled syringes.
We have developed a new butyl product, butyl ionomers, and this opens up new applications for butyl rubber - such as sports grips, improved adhesives and sealants, medical adhesives and antimicrobial coatings.
And last but not least, we are the only supplier of butyl rubber is used for the production of chewing gum - a fact that is probably not known to many people.
LANXESS: Is Asia your market of the future?
Ron Commander: Mobility is a megatrend taking place around the globe but especially in the emerging markets in Asia such as India and China. With an expanding population and increasing prosperity comes a growing demand for mobility.
After all, butyl sales in Asia now represent more than 50 percent of all worldwide butyl sales. And of that, 50 percent is generated in China alone.
More and more people own their own car in Asia, and as a result traffic worldwide is increasing. The challenge to be overcome in the face of this development is ensuring mobility remains safe and sustainable. As the leading manufacturer of high-performance rubber, LANXESS is continually working on new technologies to achieve this - worldwide.
With all these examples you can understand that it is simply impossible to imagine a world without butyl rubber.
LANXESS: Can you sum up your business in one sentence?
Ron Commander: we are one of the world's leading manufacturers of high-quality butyl and halobutyl rubbers, which are impermeable to gas and moisture for the tire and rubber industry.