TTE awards recognise environmental contributions
Hanover, Germany – Major tire manufacturers as well as new players were among the winners of the Tire Technology Awards 2016 on 17 Feb, as environmental achievements came under focus at this year’s ceremony.
Kobe Steel Ltd received the tire manufacturing innovation of the year award for its new tangential rotor called the 5THR which according to a Tire Technology Expo (TTE) press release was noted for “uniformly and efficiently mixing additives”.
The 5THR also offers an 8 percent improvement in quality and 43 percent higher productivity in comparison with other Kobe rotors, while also reducing CO2 emissions.
The rotor, said the announcement, was “highly evaluated” for its mixing of silica-rich compounds used in making low-rolling resistance tires.
Also, new player AquaJet won the environmental award, in a very close vote against Cooper Tire’s advances in guayle rubber.
The Polish firm’s industrial-scale rubber recycling technology is based on a proprietary process of milling whole tires with ultra-high-pressure water jets to create recycled rubber powder for use in tire production.
The tire technology of the year award went to Nokian’s Hakkapeliitta R2, which is said to be the “most energy-efficient winter tire model” in the automotive industry and is the first to receive an EU ‘A’ label rating for rolling resistance.
The tall-and-narrow size is designed specifically for BMW’s distinctive i3 electric car and defeated its closest challenger on the shortlist, another innovative new tire – the Michelin CrossClimate – by a single point in the voting.
Bridgestone won the manufacturer of the year award, ahead of runner-up Cooper Tire.
The manufacturer recently launched its DriveGuard runflat tire and has been awarded the prize for its commitment to future investments in production as well as research and development.
“The judging panel recognised the construction of Bridgestone’s first passenger tires in which 100 percent of the natural rubber was derived from guayule, as well as upgrades to its Asia Pacific technical centre in Thailand,” said a TTE announcement.
The lifetime achievement award went to Jacques Noordermeer, emeritus professor of Elastomer Technology and Engineering, University of Twente.
Noordermeer has worked in the rubber field for most of his professional life. He worked for 20 years at DSM Elastomers before setting up a chair of Rubber Technology (now Elastomer Technology and Engineering) at the University of Twente, the Netherlands, in 1995.
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