Hankook, Kumho Petrochemical in 'eco-tire' link-up

Seoul – Hankook Tire & Technology and Kumho Petrochemical (KP) have entered a joint agreement to advance the development of 'eco-friendly' tires.

With the link-up, Hankook will use KP’s Eco-SSBR styrene butadiene rubber to develop and produce tires offering enhanced environmental sustainability.

Hankook has secured ‘priority supply’ of Eco-SSBR, which is produced using recycled styrene monomer (RSM), the Korean companies said 23 May.

KP is currently pursuing a commercial-scale project to manufacture the SSBR using RSM, recovered from plastics waste, by 2026.

The petrochemicals company, in 2021, entered an agreement with US recycling technology company Agilyx towards establishing a chemical recycling plant. 

Located in South Korea, the unit would employ Agilyx depolymerisation technology to produce styrene monomer from post-use polystyrene. 

With Technip Energies, Agilyx last August launched TruStyrenyx, a platform deploying pyrolysis and purification technologies to produce high-purity RSM.

KP has also recently agreed to supply ISSC Plus-certified synthetic rubber to Hankook for the production of sustainable tires.

The agreement will support the tire maker’s stated target of using 55% sustainable raw materials in its products by 2025.