Zeon announces completion of bench-scale facility for highly efficient butadiene production from plant-based ethanol

Zeon Corporation (Zeon; head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Tetsuya Toyoshima) has completed construction of a bench-scale facility at its Tokuyama Plant (Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture) to demonstrate technology for highly efficient production of butadiene from ethanol derived from plant-based and other sustainable materials. Construction of the facility began in July 2025. This technology will advance the realization of a carbon-neutral society through the use of non-fossil resources and enhance business sustainability by establishing a new, naphtha-independent method of sourcing raw materials. The facility is scheduled to begin full-scale operation in January 2027 toward achieving commercialization by 2034.

A ceremony marking the facility’s completion was held at the site on July 31, 2026, attended by 46 people including guests from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Yamaguchi Prefecture, Shunan City, and Yokohama Rubber, as well as representatives from the construction contractor and other related companies, along with Zeon officials including Corporate Officer and Tokuyama Plant Manager Akira Honma.

This project is one of two R&D themes being undertaken by Zeon and The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. (Yokohama Rubber; Chairman and CEO: Masataka Yamaishi) and supported by NEDO’s Green Innovation Fund Projects. The two companies aim to achieve the social implementation in the 2030s of technology for the highly efficient production of butadiene and isoprene from plant-based and other sustainable materials. Zeon will develop a prototype polybutadiene rubber (butadiene rubber) using butadiene made at the bench-scale facility. Yokohama Rubber will then develop prototype tires using the butadiene rubber and conduct driving tests to collect data for a large-scale demonstration.

The two companies intend to establish the technology for social implementation by 2030 using a pilot facility to demonstrate the technology, which is targeted for commercialization in 2034.

The work reported here was carried out as part of a project subsidized by NEDO.