In Russia, they are import-substituting sulfur for the tire industry

Scientists from the Siberian State University of Science and Technology named after Academician M.F. Reshetnev have developed a technology for producing polymer sulfur, which is a mandatory vulcanizing agent in the production of all types of tires and is currently 100% imported from abroad. The project aims to completely replace imports, and a preliminary agreement has been reached on standardizing samples at tire plants in Barnaul, Volzhsky, Nizhnekamsk, Omsk, and Yaroslavl, reports TASS citing the university's press service.

The university notes that polymer (insoluble) sulfur prevents premature vulcanization of rubber compounds and "bleaching" of sulfur on the surface of finished products, which is "fundamentally important for the quality and durability of civilian and military tires", and the demand of the Russian market is about 100 thousand tons of this material per year.

The raw material is technical sulfur, which is formed during the utilization of hydrogen sulfide at oil refineries, and the Achinsk Refinery has expressed interest in participating in the project, which can produce up to 8.5 thousand tons of polymer sulfur per year, making the project economically viable.

"According to the developers' estimates, scaling up the technology at other oil refining enterprises will allow the country's needs to be fully met," the Reshetnev University press service adds.

An experimental setup was manufactured in the university's laboratory, and tests of samples in industrial rubber compounds were successfully conducted. "Our development is based on domestic raw materials and allows us to obtain polymer sulfur with characteristics that are not inferior to foreign analogs. We see a high interest from industrial partners and expect to present the results necessary for the transition to pilot-industrial production already in 2026," the university says.