Global HNBR Giant Arlanxeo Announces Production Expansion!

Recently, special rubber giant Arlanxeo announced that it is increasing the production capacity of HNBR (hydrogenated nitrile rubber) special materials by strengthening the production technology of its plants in Orange, the United States, and Leverkusen, Germany. The project will be completed by the end of 2023. The total annual production capacity of the two factories is expected to increase by nearly 1,000 tons.

HNBR global production capacity

There are several main manufacturers: Arlanxeo (formerly Germany's Lanxess rubber business), Japan's Zeon, and China’s Zhejiang Zansheng New Materials Co., Ltd., Shandong Dawn Special Elastomer Materials Co., Ltd. and Qilu Petrochemical.

ARLANXEO has a total production capacity of 11,000 tons/year. It adopts the homogeneous solution hydrogenation method and produces HNBR in two factories, one located in Leverkusen, Germany, and the other in Texas, the United States;

Japan's Zeon has a total production capacity of 12,500 tons/year. It uses the heterogeneous solution hydrogenation method and produces HNBR in three factories. Two are located in Takaoka City and Kawasaki City in Japan, and the other is located in Texas, the United States.

Zhejiang Zansheng production capacity of 2000 tons/year, put into operation in 2015; On June 16, 2023, the Management Committee of Zhejiang Zhapu Economic Development Zone (Jiaxing Port Area) issued a pre-approval notice for the HNBR 5000 tons/year expansion project of Zhejiang Zansheng New Materials Co., LTD.

Shandong Dawn has a production capacity of 3,000 tons/year, and its first phase of 1,000 tons/year production capacity was put into production in 2019. In June 2022, Dawn stated that it has a production capacity of 3,000 tons/year, currently producing 1,000 tons/year, and can reach full production of 3,000 tons in 2024.

On December 26, 2022, the 5000 tons/year hydrogenated nitrile (HNBR) device using Sinopec's self-developed technology was successfully driven in Qilu Petrochemical, and the product hydrogenation degree was greater than 99%, marking the success of Sinopec's hydrogenated nitrile technology development, and the industrial device has fully entered the production stage.

HNBR special materials

HNBR, the crown jewel in the rubber field, is a new elastomer made from catalytic hydrogenation of nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR). It has outstanding comprehensive properties and can be used in a variety of harsh environments.

Compared with NBR, HNBR molecular structure contains little or no carbon carbon double bonds, while maintaining NBR oil resistance, wear resistance and other properties, but also has better heat resistance, oxidation resistance, ozone resistance, radiation resistance, chemical resistance and other properties, is a special rubber with excellent comprehensive performance. It is widely used in automotive, aviation, aerospace, petrochemical and other fields.

At present, HNBR has been supported by a series of policies such as the "Advanced Structure and Composite Materials" Key Project of the "14th Five-Year Plan" National Key Research and Development Plan of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, and the "First Batch of Application Demonstration Guidance Catalogue of Key New Materials (2021 version)" of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China.