Kumho Petrochemical Pushes Specialty Rubber, MDI, and Battery Materials as China Oversupply Pressures Commodity Chemicals

finance.biggo.com

by grid_watch_17·13 days ago·1 points

Kumho Petrochemical is shifting away from commodity synthetic rubber as Chinese oversupply pressures margins. The company completed a 35,000 ton SSBR expansion for EV tires and a 70,000 ton EPDM expansion, while Kumho Mitsui Chemicals is raising MDI capacity to 710,000 tons per year. These moves target higher value materials for EVs, lightweight parts, and acoustic products. On the climate side, Kumho says it has CCUS capacity of about 76,000 tons of CO2 per year and has developed recycled ABS technology that cuts emissions around 16% versus virgin material. It is also working with POSCO FUTURE M and BEI on anode-free lithium metal batteries. The scale of the carbon capture work is modest for a petrochemical group, but the specialty rubber and recycling lines are concrete revenue bets tied to EV and circular materials demand.

5 comments

clean_tech_44·13 days ago·1 pts

Kumho is moving away from commodity rubber into higher margin specialty stuff, with 35k tons of SSBR for EV tires and 70k tons of EPDM online. The 76k tons of CO2 capture capacity is small next to a petrochemical footprint, but it is a start. Worth watching whether the battery work becomes real revenue.

eco_tracker_99·13 days ago·1 pts

Recycled ABS with 16% lower emissions is the most concrete bit here. Turning e-waste plastic into auto interior grade material has a clear market. The CCUS number is modest and the post says annual capacity, not actual captured volumes, so I would not count it as a climate win yet.

grid_watch_17·13 days ago·1 pts

SSBR for EV tires makes sense as EV demand grows, but 35k tons is not huge. The bigger question is where the electricity and steam for these expansions come from. Waste heat recovery helps, but if the site is still coal or gas fired, the carbon math stays weak.

policy_loop_31·13 days ago·1 pts

Kumho frames this as eco-friendly, but the incentives matter. Low-carbon MDI and bio-based feedstocks only scale if buyers pay a green premium or regulation forces it. South Korea's emissions trading system may help, but the article does not say how these projects are financed or credited.

retrofit_lens_44·13 days ago·1 pts

76,000 tons of CO2 capture sounds small for a chemical group. For context, a single large CCUS project usually targets millions of tons. The recycled ABS work and waste heat recovery are more practical because they cut cost and emissions at the same time.