Pyrolysis-based recycling specialist Pyrum Innovations AG (Pyrum) has released its annual and consolidated financial statements for the 2023 financial year, along with an update on the company’s progress in supply of recovered end-of-life tyre products to the tyre industry. CEO Pascal Klein commented that another eventful year lies behind the company.
The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., has announced its participation in a venture spearheaded by the Japan Ministry of the Environment. This initiative, a component of the Japanese Government Cabinet Office’s BRIDGE programmes, aims at assessing and affirming the sustainable acquisition of natural capital from the ASEAN region.
Yuan Zhongxue, director of the National Engineering Research Center for Rubber and Tire and honorary chairman of the Sailun Group, announced sustainable development goals (SDGs) for the tyre maker during the recent 2024 China Rubber Conference. The SDGs aim to progressively increase the utilisation of sustainable materials in tyre production, targeting 40 per cent by 2030 and striving for 100 per cent by 2050. Additionally, Sailun aims to reduce per tyre energy consumption and carbon emissions by 30 per cent, compared to 2022 levels, by 2030.
Levidian Nanosystems has presented a prototype truck tyre made with a butadiene rubber tread compound containing its net zero graphene, and reports that this compound “has been shown to deliver significant improvements in the mechanical and dynamic properties of the tyre.” The Cambridge-based firm is confident such tyres can deliver considerable fuel and CO2 savings.
Together with two other South Korean firms, Hankook Tire & Technology has developed the country’s first tyre using cord fibre sourced from chemically recycled PET. The tyre maker partnered with SK chemicals and Hyosung Advanced Materials to develop Hankook iON tyres containing “circular recycled PET fibre tyre cords.” The resulting product is the first tyre to wear the ISCC Plus certification logo.
Uddevalla Municipality in Sweden has authorised Scandinavian Enviro Systems (Enviro) to proceed with the construction of its new joint venture end-of-life tyre recycling plant. This clearance comes after Enviro, Antin Infrastructure Partners, and Michelin reached a final decision on the project’s investment on 7 February. Having secured all essential environmental and construction approvals, Enviro anticipates commencing construction in the first quarter of 2024.
Together with partners IFPEN and Axens, Michelin has brought an industrial scale bio-based butadiene demonstrator plant into operation in France. The facility is located at Michelin’s Bassens site near Bordeaux. The aim is to develop and commercialise butadiene from plant biomass-derived ethanol as a replacement for petrochemical-based butadiene.
At the start of January, Pyrum Innovations established a wholly owned subsidiary to operate its second pyrolysis tyre recycling plant. This ‘Pyrum GreenFactory II GmbH’ facility is located in Perl-Besch on the Moselle, in Germany’s Saarland region, and will enter service by the end of 2025. Pyrum has modelled the plant on its main site in nearby Dillingen/Saar, and when operational it will double the company’s recycling capacity to 40,000 tonnes of used tyres per annum. Pyrum says it already starting to order certain plant components – those with “notoriously long delivery times” – in the first quarter of 2024.
At this month’s Tokyo Auto salon, Toyo Tires presented a concept tyre that utilises 90 per cent sustainable materials. Prior to this Sustainable Concept Tyre, the highest ever usage rate of sustainable materials in a Toyo tyre was 50 per cent, as seen in the Open Country MT/R tyres that have seen action in the 2024 Dakar Rally. The tyre maker thus considers the new concept, which “dramatically surpasses this share,” a “step forward towards a more viable future mobility.”
Asahi Kasei reports that, together with an affiliated company, it has acquired ISCC Plus sustainability certification for several products, including Asaprene solution polymerised SBR for applications such as tyre treads and casings.
Steel wire firm Bekaert shares that it has obtained the first third-party certificates for its tyre reinforcement with high recycled steel content and has delivered the initial batches of this steel to Bridgestone Corporation. According to the company, high recycled content halves the CO2 footprint of its product, and such certification helps meet demand from customers and end markets while addressing a “critical challenge in the industry.”
Synthetic rubber producer Synthos has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with OMV, an Austrian multinational integrated oil, gas, and petrochemicals company. Under the MOU, the two firms will cooperate on the long-term supply of sustainable raw materials, with a focus on sustainable butadiene for synthetic rubber used in tyre manufacturing.
Tyre makers often refer to the ‘race to road’ technology transfer when talking about motorsport engagements, but ‘race to loading bay’ is something that perhaps only Continental can claim bragging rights for. The tyre maker is using carbon black from recycled racing tyres in its production of solid tyres.
Kumho Tire and synthetic rubber manufacturer Synthos have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the joint development of sustainable tyre raw materials. Under the MOU, the two companies will conduct a joint research and development project for Neodymium-Butadiene rubber using Bio-Butadiene and expand the use of environmentally friendly synthetic rubber in tyre manufacturing.
Pyrum Innovations has dropped plans to build a pyrolysis tyre recycling plant at Homburg, in Germany’s Saarland – but is still confident of setting up its second facility within the originally-announced timeframe, more or less. The company has already identified a potential new location.
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