Scientists at Reshetnev University (SibSAU) have created a technology for producing polymer sulfur – a critical component for the tire industry, which is currently 100% imported. As TASS reported in the university's press service, the project is being implemented under the "Priority 2030" program and aims at full substitution of strategic raw materials included in the list of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Polymer sulfur acts as a vulcanizing agent: it prevents premature curing of the rubber compound and eliminates "fading" of sulfur on the surface of finished tires. The annual demand of the Russian market for this material is about 100 thousand tons. The raw material is technical sulfur, formed during the utilization of hydrogen sulfide at oil refineries. Only the Achinsk Refinery can produce up to 8.5 thousand tons of such sulfur per year, which makes the project economically viable. With scaling to other refineries, the technology will fully cover the country's needs.
An experimental setup is already operating in the laboratory, and the obtained samples have been successfully tested in industrial rubber compounds. The characteristics are on par with foreign analogues. The developers expect to move to pilot industrial production as early as 2026. A preliminary agreement has been reached on the standardization of samples at leading tire factories – in Nizhnekamsk, Volzhsky, Yaroslavl, Omsk, and Altai. The Achinsk Refinery considers the project as an opportunity to diversify its product range.
In fact, the technology closes the loop "oil refining waste – strategic raw materials", eliminating the dependence of the tire industry on imports. For factories producing civilian and military tires, this means stable supplies of a key component without external risks.
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