Michelin inaugurates industrial-scale demonstrator towards sustainable production of synthetic rubber
By Bradley Osborne - 1st February 2024
Operative at Michelin facility in Bassens, France
France – Michelin Group, a tyre manufacturer based in Clermont-Ferrand, France, has inaugurated an industrial-scale demonstrator for sustainably producing the compound required to make synthetic rubber, without the use of petrochemicals.
The demonstrator is located at Michelin’s plant in the commune of Bassens, near Bordeaux. It is tooled to produce butadiene, an organic compound of hydrogen and carbon, from ethanol derived from biomass. Butadiene is a chemical intermediate used in many commercial products, including synthetic rubber for vehicle tyres. Conventionally, it is derived from petroleum, but Michelin hopes to commercialise the production of synthetic rubber from “bio-based” sources instead.
