Toyo Proxes to Use Recycled Polyester Tyre Cord Technology

A new tyre launched onto the Japanese market on December 11 utilises the world’s first recycled polyester tyre cord product. The Toyo Proxes Ne features tyre cord manufactured using a substance produced by Teijin Fibers Limited, part of Japan’s Teijin Group. The chemically recycled Ecopet Plus polyester fibres are manufactured through a Teijin developed closed-loop recycling system known as ‘Eco Circle’, and are used in carcass of the environmentally oriented tyre. This is, comments Teijin Fibers, the first time a recycled material has been able to meet the strict requirements necessary for tyre carcass fabric.

The raw Ecopet Plus is processed and prepared for production into tyre cord by Union Tire Cord, a wholly owned subsidiary of Teijin Fibers. Chemicals are used to decompose polyester for conversion into raw polyester, and Teijin says that the recycled material offers the purity of products derived from petroleum and therefore achieves the demanding performance levels required for tyre cords. In addition, Teijin Fibers says that the repeatable recycling system reduces energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 80 per cent each when compared to systems producing polyester material from petroleum.

The Ecopet Plus produced for use in tyre cord is of a 1,670 decitex (384 filament) fineness, and the raw material is turned into polyester polymer at the company’s Matsuyama facility in southern Japan. Tyre cord production is then carried out at its Iwakuni facility, and Teijin has set a 2009 sales target of ten tons per month, the equivalent of approximately 50,000 tyres. This figure is anticipated to rise to thirty tons a month in 2011.

The Proxes Ne is currently only sold in Japan and is available in sizes 185/65R15 88H, 195/65R15 91H, 195/55R16 87V.