Japan’s Asahi Kasei is set to start the sale of sustainable synthetic rubber materials after the company’s Synthetic Rubber Division earned the internationally recognised ISCC Plus certification in October.
The company announced it would be marketing its ISCC Plus-certified Tufdene-branded solution-polymerised styrene-butadiene rubber (SSBR) and Asadene butadiene rubber starting in November.
Both products are made using the mass-balance approach at Asahi Kasei Synthetic Rubber Singapore Pte. Ltd. and the Synthetic Rubber Plant of Asahi Kasei's Kawasaki Works.
Produced from feedstock derived from biomass and plastic waste along with other raw material, these materials offer opportunities for manufacturers to reduce CO2 emissions without compromising on quality: Asahi Kasei has already gained a strong reputation for its high-performance grades of S-SBR that are optimal for eco-friendly tires with excellent fuel efficiency and wear resistance characteristics.
In response to market demand for sustainable solutions, the company also plans to manufacture and sell mass-balanced butadiene rubber for applications other than tires, it said.
The mass balance procedure is an accepted and certified protocol that documents and tracks recycled content through complex manufacturing systems. It's used when sustainable inputs like biomass or recycled plastic are mixed with traditional inputs like fossil-fuel-based feedstock. It allocates the proportion of sustainable raw materials to certain products using a chain- of-custody protocol. The ISCC Plus certification ensures that biomass, recycled materials and sustainable feedstock are appropriately managed under the mass-balance method throughout the supply chain including manufacturing processes.