Port Neches, Tex. Capacity figures are for net dry rubber, including rubber hydrocarbon and extender oils, but not carbon black. Commercial production is by copolymerization of butadiene and styrene using emulsion or solution processes.
Some facilities have multipurpose plant capacities.
American Synthetic Rubber's Louisville, Ky., polybutadiene plant produces some solution-polymerized SBR for captive use. Dynagen is a subsidiary of General Tire. Non-tire automotive uses are growing, particularly in replacement parts, since the driving life of the average passenger car has been increasing. Encroachment by EPDM and nitrile rubbers and by specialty elastomers in non-tire applications is ongoing. SBR consumption was up 2.2 percent, almost twice the average annual growth rate of the past decade.