Eneos partnership: Bridgestone begins pyrolysis tests

Bridgestone Corporation recently began producing oil and recovered carbon black through the pyrolysis of end-of-life tyres at a test facility in Japan. The tyre maker is operating this unit within the Bridgestone Innovation Park in Kodaira City, Tokyo as part of a joint project with Eneos Corporation. It is one of two research and development projects Bridgestone is undertaking with the support of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan’s Green Innovation Fund.

The aim of this test production is to facilitate further R&D into technologies for refining tyre-derived oil, which Eneos will use to manufacture butadiene and other chemical products. Bridgestone views its current activities as a “first step” towards completing large-scale verification tests and commencing volume production by 2030.

Through co-creation with various partners, Bridgestone says it is working to “commercialise a recycling business that turns used tyres back into rubber and raw materials as resources.” The company launched the Evertire Initiative in April 2022 as an umbrella for these projects.