Goodyear, Visolis plan biobased isoprene

Abstract

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is working with the biomanufacturing firm Visolis to develop a process for producing biobased isoprene, a precursor for some types of synthetic rubber used to make tires. Isoprene is typically made as a by-product of oil refining. Visolis plans to make the chemical from lignocellulosic feedstock, which is inedible biomass. In 2007, Goodyear entered into a partnership with Genencor to produce isoprene enzymatically from plant sugars. The partners initially hoped to commercialize the product by 2013 but haven’t announced additional progress.