Emission and consumption data from ESBR plants per tonne of product

Solution polymerised rubbers are usually homopolymers of butadiene or copolymers of styrene and butadiene. They can have a variety of behaviours and properties depending on the molecular structure. However, they are classed as one family because of one common feature of the polymerisation process, i.e. the monomers, catalyst and other ingredients are all dissolved in an organic solvent 

The family consists of, in order of market volume, polybutadiene (or butadiene rubber, BR), solution styrene butadiene rubber (SSBR) and styrenic block copolymers (SBC). A further subdivision may be made into those polymers that require vulcanisation (BR, SSBR) and those that do not (SBC). The latter are also known as thermoplastic rubbers as they have rubbery properties below a certain temperature when they soften and may be processed like thermoplastics. 

Source Worldwide Rubber Statistics 2002, IISRP Houston  

Solution rubbers account for approximately 42 % of all synthetic rubber production. Worldwide 

There are 15 plants in Europe (including Russia) producing solution rubber with a combined nameplate capacity of 1.3 million tonnes/year. Of these, 12 are located within the EU-15 producing nearly 1 million tonnes/year. In the context of die European polymer industry this production represents 2.3 % of the total production. An overview of the European producers is given in Table 8.2. 

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Table 7.3 Emission and consumption data from ESBR plants (per tonne of product)...

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