Lummus and Synthos collaborate on biobutadiene technology

Houston, TX – Lummus Technology announced that its Green Circle business and Synthos have started collaborating to commercialize Synthos’ biobutadiene technology. The first step of the commercialization program includes the development of a feasibility study for a biobutadiene plant with a production capacity of 20,000 tons per year, which will form the basis for an investment decision.

“Lummus is the leading licensor of butadiene production and extraction technologies, and we are building on our excellent track record in commercializing technologies to make a difference in the energy transition through Green Circle,” said Leon de Bruyn, president and chief executive officer of Lummus Technology. “We are grateful to support Synthos to meet their goals for their investment in more sustainable bio-rubbers, and will ready this promising technology for commercialization, aligned with our relentless ambitions to decarbonize and circularize our industry through our Green Circle portfolio.”

“Sustainability is a key for Synthos’ products portfolio development. We are keen to support our customers’ needs with advanced synthetic rubber based on bio-derived butadiene,” said Matteo Marchisio, Synthetic Rubbers and Tire Materials BU director. “We believe that cooperation with Lummus Technology will effectively support our goals referring to renewable and bio-based butadiene. We want it to become the monomer for production of bio-rubber. This important development for Synthos will strengthen our sustainability offering and will provide our customers with a product that has a significantly reduced environmental footprint.”

This cooperation will focus on the development and commercialization of a novel technology to process renewable bio-based feedstocks to produce value-added, more sustainable synthetic rubbers. Green Circle, a business entity owned by Lummus Technology, concentrates on economically and technically sound solutions for the comprehensive processing of solid wastes containing plastics; for processing various renewable bio-based feedstocks to value-added chemicals, polymers and fuels; and for the decarbonization of refinery and petrochemicals assets.

Synthos, as a leading supplier of rubbers for the production of tires, is now focusing on producing synthetic rubber from renewable raw materials, which can be achieved through production of biobutadiene from bioethanol. The technology that Lummus and Synthos will commercialize through this agreement to produce biobutadiene is very promising and expected to be the new standard for production of synthetic rubbers.