Japanese Firms Eye Biobased Isoprene

Zeon, Yokohama Rubber, and RIKEN, Japan’s national R&D agency, have come up with a process for synthesizing isoprene from biomass. The three expect that the technology, suitable for producing polyisoprene rubber used in car tires, could become commercial early in the next decade. Isoprene is currently obtained as a by-product of naphtha cracking, but crackers are being progressively closed down in Japan. In 2012, two other Japanese firms, Ajinomoto and Bridgestone, announced that they had a process for making isoprene from biomass. U.S.-based Genencor and Amyris have similar projects.