Link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/AyhuGKqvkkchoUye5lOq2Q

Subject: Successful Development of Vegetable-oil Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer for Tires

Vegetable Oil/ BUCT/ Successful Development of Vegetable-oil Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer for Tires

Plasticizers play a very important role in the rubber industry, and can reduce rubber viscosity, thereby improving processing performance and reducing processing energy consumption. In 2019, the global rubber plasticizer consumption reached 10.3 million tons. However, most commonly used rubber plasticizers are non-renewable petroleum-based small-molecule plasticizers, which produces a large amount of volatile organic compounds (VOC) during the rubber processing and vulcanization process, causing serious pollutions to the environment; at the same time, some petroleum-based plasticizers contain carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are extremely harmful to human health.

As the society attaches great importance to sustainable development and environmental protection, the development of VOC-free and renewable rubber environmentally friendly plasticizers that meet the needs of the new era has become one of the important routes to achieve the sustainable development of the rubber industry. Since 2012, foreign tire giants such as Goodyear, Michelin, and Hankook have all put forward the concept of vegetable oil plasticizers.

The Advanced Elastomer Materials Research Center (Center) of Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT) has been committed to the development of green rubber plasticizers since 2009. Vegetable oil is non-toxic, easy to be obtained, renewable, of high thermal stability and good plasticizing effect, and does not produce VOC emissions during tire processing and use. However, when vegetable oil is directly used as a rubber plasticizer, its double bond will affect the rubber crosslinking, resulting in a decrease in the mechanical properties of the rubber material. Associate Professor Wang Chao of the Center of BUCT proposed a new method of vegetable oil modification to reduce the active double bond content of vegetable oil, and reduced or even avoided the influence of vegetable oil on rubber crosslinking. BUCT teamed up with Anhui Great New Materials Technology Co., Ltd. and Zhongce Rubber Group Co., Ltd. in 2019, made breakthroughs from the modification of vegetable oil, the mass preparation of modified vegetable oils, to the processing technology of modified vegetable oils in tire tread materials and the performance evaluation of tires, and successfully developed the vegetable oil snow tires and high-fuel winter tires that meets the Labelling Regulations. The rolling resistance and high-speed performance of vegetable oil tires are comparable to aromatic oil tires, and they also have better low temperature resistance.

Dr. Danling Wang of Zhongce Rubber Group Co., Ltd. who is committed to the application and development of modified vegetable oils in tires believes that the successful development of vegetable oil plasticizers can solve the VOC emissions of tires at the plasticizer level. For example, the boiling point of aromatic oil is about 200°C. If the quality of aromatic oil is poor, the boiling point can be as low as about 100°C, while the boiling point of modified vegetable oil is about 400°C. According to national standards and test methods for odor testing, the odor level of modified vegetable oil tread rubber materials is more half lower than that of environmentally friendly aromatic oil rubber. Modified vegetable oil tires meet the requirements of environmental protection and are a promising next-generation bio-based environmental plasticizer for tires.

Chairman Shao Jin of Anhui Great New Materials Technology Co., Ltd. focuses on green tire additives and related materials. He worked closely with BUCT, and in 2019, he and BUCT realized the transfer of vegetable oil modification patents from BUCT to Anhui Great New Materials. Both sides made efforts in overcoming a series of technical problems, and successfully developed this new modified vegetable oil plasticizer product. This product has been proven through many experiments, and it can not only meet the performance requirements of the tire industry, replace petroleum-based aromatic oil plasticizers, but also meet the country’s new requirements for environmental protection and sustainable development. It has huge development potential and broad market prospects in the future rubber and tire industry.