“BioTred” To Replace Soot And Silica

According to the US tyre manufacturer Goodyear, they have developed a filling material for car tyres on the basis of renewable raw materials. Thanks to this new rubber mixture, as reported by the press officer Mr Fischer, tyre production will be less harmful to the environment and, compared to the normal silica tyre tread mixture, it offers a lower rolling resistance. Above all, it should be fuel saving.

This new technology, which will be used for the first time in the summer tyre GT 3, will offer additional advantages for safety and handling. Presenting the BioTred for the first time to the German press at the end of January in Frankfurt, the company attracted a lot of interest. BioTred is an artificial name, with a deliberate spelling difference to “tread”, in order to highlight its ecological advantage immediately to the consumer.

BioTred is a patented tread mixture containing an element from corn starch. However, in parts this element will replace the substances soot and silica which have been used for processing up to now. According to Dr.

Annette Lechtenböhmer, who is a chemical engineer at the Goodyear Technical Centre in Luxembourg and also a university teacher at the Hanover University Institute for Process Engineering, this new filling material will reduce CO2 emissions in different ways. On questioning it was confirmed that the starch suitable for producing the filling material could also be generated from potatoes. Since Goodyear has spent five years developing this material and holds a couple of patents, a lead over the competition should be possible.