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Article: Synthetic rubber by-product used to make cell phone camera lenses.(Environment/Recycling)(Zeon Corporation)(Company Profile)
- Article from:
- New Materials Japan
- Article date:
- September 1, 2003
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Zeon Corporation, Japan's top maker of specialized rubber, is virtually the sole domestic supplier of plastic cycloolefin polymer (COP), a material resembling glass that is used to make cell phone camera lenses. The polymer is made partly of dicyclopentadiene, a by-product of the manufacturing process for synthetic rubber.
Unable to use it in their in-house production, Zeon's competitors used to convert the material into fuel or sell it off to outside buyers. Zeon, however, has tried to use it in the manufacture of other items to reduce the cost of producing a synthetic rubber material.
Aiming to take advantage of its properties such as a lack of water ...