During the outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020, Zhongce Rubber Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as ZC Rubber) and Nanjing Lvjinren Rubber & Plastic High-tech Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Nanjing Lvjinren Rubber) have signed an on-line contract for the expansion capacity of recycled rubber. The project, which will be fully operational in September this year, will have an annual production capacity of 20,000 tons of recycled rubber, and become China's leading Industrial 4.0 recycled rubber intelligent plant and recycling demonstration project in the tyre industry.

Shen Jinrong (left), chairman of Zhongce Rubber Group, shakes hands with professor Zhang Liqun (right) of Beijing University of Chemical Technology via online video call.

As the No. 1 tyre company in China and No. 9 in the world, ZC Rubber is also the only experimental unit designated by the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China and the China Tyre Recycling Association. While focusing on the main tyre industry, ZC Rubber took the lead to achieve the production, sales, recycling, reuse of the whole life cycle tyre management and development model. The company has been actively fulfilling its social responsibilities, basing its development model on sustainable resources, and carrying out pilot projects for the recovery and comprehensive utilization of waste tyres.

ZC Rubber has been actively cooperating with colleges and universities and scientific research units at home and abroad to seek the most advanced comprehensive utilization technology of waste tyres. In 2017, ZC Rubber ordered the first set of recycled rubber production line from Nanjing Lvjinren Rubbber. The equipment is the result of the key project of National High Technology Research and Development Program of China, developed independently by Professor Zhang Liqun's team of Beijing University of Chemical Technology, and has achieved environmental protection, safety and continuity in the preparation process of recycled rubber, with excellent and stable product performance in the leading international level.

The cooperation between ZC rubber and Nanjing Lvjinren Rubber in the special period means not only the further deepening of the cooperative relationship between the two sides but also an important step forward of the green development driven by science and technology innovation. The two parties will continue their efforts to contribute to the green development of the reduction, reuse and recycling of the tire industry and the creation of a resource-saving and environment-friendly society.