Lehigh – on the way to a billion MRP tyres
US-based green materials manufacturer Lehigh Technologies has been in business for just under a decade and claims five of the top ten tyre and retread manufacturers as its customers. The company specialises in the production of micronised rubber powders (MRP), produced mainly from recycled tyres. Its main tyre product for the tyre industry is PolyDyne, a specifically-developed material that is said to offer a significant cost advantage over SBR and natural rubber; using figures published in the Rubber Statistical Bulletin, Lehigh shows that, as of September 2011, PolyDyne was less than half as expensive as SBR and around a quarter the cost of natural rubber. Furthermore, Lehigh Technolgies says that every kilogramme of its MRP used saves around nine litres of oil and some 20kWh of energy in comparison to traditional tyres, while it releases less than half the CO2 of synthetic rubber.