Versalis, a European producer in the polymers and elastomers industry, and bioengineering firm Genomatica’s joint venture project to create renewable butadiene has been presented with Tire Technology International’s Environmental Achievement of the Year award. The companies embarked on the long-term project to address concerns around potential butadiene shortages and price increases. In a demonstration run in 2016, several kilograms of renewable butadiene were prepared starting from commercial sugars, with polymerisation tests showing no differences between the polybutadiene prepared from fossil or renewable feedstock.