Recently, two industry giants, OMV Austria and Synthos Poland, signed a memorandum of understanding. According to this agreement, the two companies will cooperate intensively in the field of sustainability, focusing on the supply of sustainable raw materials, which will be used in the manufacture of high-performance tires.
It is reported that OMV is one of the largest state-owned participating companies in Austria and the largest oil and gas group in Central Europe. It possesses world-class oil extraction equipment and state-of-the-art technological strength, and mainly carries out extraction and production operations on a global scale.
Synthos Poland is a leading manufacturer of rubber products, specializing in the production of high quality rubber seals, shock absorbers, rubber elastomers and other products. Founded in 1965, the company is headquartered in Krakow, Poland, with modern production facilities and technologies, as well as an experienced team of professionals.
Under this MoU, OMV and Synthos plan to collaborate on a long-term basis until 2030 to produce sustainable butadiene using palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) and cooking oil as feedstock. This butadiene will be produced in a steam cracker at the Burghausen refinery in Germany, which was certified in March 2022 by ISCC PLUS. The first batch of sustainable butadiene was successfully delivered to Synthos in 2023.
ISCC PLUS is a global standard for ensuring the sustainability of recycled and bio-based materials. It enables supply chain traceability by verifying a company's compliance with environmental and social standards and establishing a chain of custody. This mass balance approach allows us to track the volume and sustainability characteristics of recycled and/or bio-based components in the value chain and attribute them based on verifiable bookkeeping.
This MOU not only facilitates cooperation in the recycled raw material butadiene, but also marks the transition of both companies to a more circular economy.
Daniela Vlad, OMV's Executive Vice President of Chemicals and Materials, said, "Our partnership with Synthos demonstrates that OMV is redefining the fundamentals of sustainable living. Our strategic goal is to become Europe's leading producer of sustainable raw materials, producing chemicals for our integrated refineries in Schwechat and Burghausen, Austria. By 2030, the production of sustainable chemical raw materials at these sites will increase to approximately 300,000 tons."
Synthos will use this butadiene to produce solubilized styrene butadiene rubber (S-SBR), which is used as a tread rubber in high-performance tires and has low rolling resistance, which means that it can reduce the amount of energy lost by tires on the road, which in turn improves a vehicle's energy efficiency and reduces its impact on the environment.
It is worth noting that all of Synthos' production facilities, including synthetic rubber plants in Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany, are ISCC PLUS certified for 2022.
Finally, Synthos' CEO, Zbigniew Warmuz, emphasized the company's commitment to sustainability. He stated, "Since December 2021, we have adopted a sustainability strategy that commits us to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions per gigajoule by 28% by 2030, to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050 and to ensure that by 2030 we are producing 100% sustainable products.
The partnership with OMV demonstrates our strong commitment to sustainability, a goal that can only be achieved by working with other leading companies in the value chain. Together, we will work to support our customers - the world's leading tire manufacturers - in achieving their sustainability goals of net-zero emissions and high-performance tires that reduce their carbon footprint."
