Towards Net Zero - ERJ March/April

Latest developments in the drive to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions targets in the global rubber & tire industry: 

Chinese tire maker Sailun Group has set itself a target of reaching '100% sustainability' by 2050. Towards that goal, by 2023 the group aims to achieve 40% sustainable content in Sailun tires by 2030 and a 30% decrease in energy-consumption and carbon emissions per tire compared to 2022. Sailun has also unveiled two new high-content sustainable material tires: a passenger car radial tire with a sustainable content of 75% and a truck and bus radial tire with a sustainable content of 80%. The PCR and TBR tires boast a rolling-resistance coefficient of 6.0 and 3.8, respectively, meeting the grade A standards of EU labelling regulations.

Zeon Group greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2030 have been approved by the science-based targets initiatives (SBTi). The approval confirms that the targets “align with scientific standards for limiting global warming,” said the group in a statement 26 April. Read more

Polish startup Ecopolplast has received Stena circular economy award for creating a TPE made with 100% recycled materials. The company’s Ecoplastomer materials are said to “significantly reduce” environmental impact and CO2 emissions. The materials can be readily recycled, providing a ‘closed loop’ for end-of-life products. The elastomer is claimed to have “similar density and hardness” to traditional TPEs, making it easy to integrate into standard manufacturing processes.

Sumitomo Rubber Singapore, a natural rubber procurement company for the Sumitomo Rubber Group, has taken part in a project initiated by Itochu Corp. to enhance the sustainability of tires. The Project Tree will see stakeholders promoting activities to support smallholder farmers, such as identifying and mitigating risks associated with sustainability and capacity-building for yield increase. The project involves the use of apps for mapping of natural rubber supply-chains as well as blockchain technology to support compliance with the EU Deforestation Regulation.

Pyrum Innovations has received ‘recycled claim standard’ sustainability certification for its pyrolysis oil used in textile production. The certification ensures that the oil meets all the necessary sustainability criteria required by BASF for the production of its polyamide-based Ultramid Ccyled textiles. Pyrum’s certified pyrolysis oil is fed into BASF's production process and allocated to the polyamide using the mass balance approach.

Bridgestone Corp. has received an A rating in the "supplier engagement evaluation" conducted by CDP, an international non-profit organisation formerly known as carbon disclosure project. Bridgestone said it had been certified as a "CDP2023 supplier engagement leader", marking the sixth time the Japanese group has received the certification. The title recognises companies’ efforts to reduce climate change and greenhouse gas emissions throughout their supply chains.

BASF, Sabic and Linde on 17 April inaugurated the world’s first demo plant for large-scale electrically heated steam cracking furnaces. Located at BASF’s site in Ludwigshafen, Germany, the unit aims to show that by using electricity from renewable sources, the new technology can cut CO2 emissions by at least 90%. The plant produces ethylene, propylene, and “possibly also higher olefins” from saturated hydrocarbon feedstock and is integrated into the existing steam crackers in Ludwigshafen.

Hyosung TNC has unveiled plans to invest $1 billion (€940 million) in a new production facility to manufacture bio-based butanediol (bio-BDO) in Vietnam. Under phase I, the company intends to reach a production capacity of 50ktpa of bio-BDO by 2026, with plans to further expand output to 200ktpa. The project will deploy technology developed by US-based bio-tech company Geno.  Read more

Japan Elastomer Co., a joint venture between Asahi Kasei and Resonac, has achieved ‘platinum’ rating in EcoVadis sustainability survey for its Oita manufacturing plant, in Oita Prefecture, Japan. According to Asahi Kasei, Platinum rating is given to companies that are “in the top 1% of companies evaluated”, and this is the first time that an organisation within the Asahi Kasei Group has received this rating. EcoVadis' evaluations  targets 120,000 companies from 180 countries and over 200 industries. 

Japan’s Teijin Aramid has achieved a golden rating in EcoVadis sustainability survey, placing the company in the ‘top 5% of all companies in all industries globally and in the top 3% of all man-made fibre manufacturers worldwide.” In a recent statement, the company said the high score reflected achievements in “environmental sustainability, ethical practices, and labour & human rights”.

Sumitomo Rubber Industries has received SBT certification granted by the Science Based Targets Initiative for its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for 2030. The group received certification to reduce its scopes 1 and 2 emissions, from its own activities, by 55% by 2030, against the baseline of 2017. For scope 3, which involves emissions from the supply chain, the group expects a 25% cut by 2030 from the 2021 baseline... Read more

Kumho Petrochemical has signed an MOU with SK geo centric and Tongsuh Petrochemical for the establishment of a sustainable bio-based raw material supply-chain. Under the partnership, the three companies have agreed to cooperate in converting monomers acrylonitrile and butadiene monomers from the existing raw material supply-chain into bio-monomers...  Read more

Carbon black supplier Orion SA has maintained a gold medal rating from EcoVadis and ranks "among the top 2% of the companies assessed by the organisation". Orion improved its score from the previous year, moving up from 77% to 78% by making significant gains in the areas of sustainable procurement and ethics, according to EcoVadis.

Pyrum has signed a partnership deal with GreenTech Recycling Tires AB for the construction of an end-of-life tire (ELT) recycling plant in Sweden. The partners, said the German pyrolysis company, plan to build a recycling plant with a capacity to process 20ktpa of ELTs. Pyrum will contribute up to €3m to the ‘strategic value partnership’, provided that Swedish company GreenTech secures funds for the project. Read more

In South Korea, Hankook has launched commercial production of tires featuring recycled PET from discarded plastics materials. In collaboration with SK Chemicals and Hyosung Advanced Materials, the company has developed an ‘electric vehicle-exclusive’ iON-branded tire with rPET used in tire cords. SK Chemicals employs a chemical recycling technology to break down discarded plastics and use them as raw materials for recycled polymers...  Read more

Kraiburg TPE’s climate protection targets in March 2024 have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The German elastomers compounder said it “met” the requirements for participating in the initiative in May 2023: signing the “SBTi commitment letter.” Signees must present their climate protection targets and measures to achieve them within 24 months. From a base-year 2021, Kraiburg TPE’s scope 1 and scope 2 CO2e emissions are to be reduced by 46.2% by 2031, with the company also working towards a 27.5% reduction in scope 3 emissions.

For natural rubber smallholder farmers the task of adapting decades-old farming practices to meet new sustainability requirements is highly complex and challenging, writes Chen Chee Wei, impacts and assurance associate at the GPSNR. The transformation being advocated goes beyond the simple distribution of guides or some seeds –  it demands a shift in farmers’ mindset. However, solutions are within reach...  Read more

Pirelli has announced that all tires used in the FIA Formula One World Championship will be marked with the FSC (forest stewardship council) logo. The logo certifies that all the natural rubber used in the tires complies with environmental and social criteria required by the FSC. The first free practice sessions on 29 Feb at the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix debut of the tires.

Linglong Tire has been certified by the ‘responsible supply chain initiative’ (RSCI), a German automotive industry association (VDA) scheme to enhance supply-chain sustainability. According to Linglong, RSCI is focused on checking and further developing the sustainability of companies' supply chains "by means of appropriate tests directly at the production site." For Linglong, the current certification relates to its plant in Zhaoyuan, China, where OE tires intended for the European market are manufactured. Other Linglong factories supplying OE tires will also be checked in the near future.

Waste tire pyrolysis company Pyrum is making “good progress” with its rollout plan, as it begins initial works on the site of its second German facility. The company started “first work” on the new location in Perl-Besch, near the Luxembourg border, in late February, weeks after the local council had approved the project. “With the clearing work starting as planned, the property is now being prepared for further construction work,” Pyrum said 28 Feb.  Read more

German bicycle tire supplier Schwalbe has increased the sustainable content of its tires to 70% to 80%, now using recycled nylon supplied by Formosa Taffeta. The recycled nylon is used in the carcass of the tire and replaces petroleum-based nylon. Seawastex materials come from discarded fishing nets and is produced by Taiwan-based carcass manufacturer Formosa.  Read more

Covestro is targetting ‘scope 3’ climate neutrality by 2050, as part of its latest climate strategy announced 29 Feb. The German polymers supplier also aims to cut 10m tonnes of scope 3 GHG emissions by 2035, 30% below the level of base-year 2021. Scope 3 emissions from upstream and downstream supply-chains make up 80% of the company's total GHG emissions. Raw materials purchased by Covestro are responsible for the greatest share of scope 3 emissions.

Willich, Germany-based Alliance Future Tire (AZuR), an initiative to drive forward sustainability in tires, has added two new partners: Synthos and Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI). The new partners bring “significant reinforcements in elementary segments of the sustainable tire circular economy,” said AZuR in a statement 14 Feb. Read more

Pyrum has announced a new ‘milestone’ in an ongoing expansion project at its flagship recycling plant in Dillingen, in the German state of Saarland. The waste tire pyrolysis company has now delivered a ‘first truck-load’ of around 24,000 litres of pyrolysis oil to BASF, from the third commissioning run of reactor II (TAD 2) at the site.  Read more

Scandinavian Enviro Systems (Enviro) on 13 Feb broke ground on its large-scale end-of-life tire pyrolysis plant in Uddevalla, Sweden. The tire recycler and its JV partners Antin Infrastructure Partners and Michelin finalised plans for the Uddevalla unit earlier in February. The facility will have capacity to recycle 34.5 kilotonnes per annum of waste tires, equal to 40% of the annual ELT arisings in Sweden...  Read more

 Tire pyrolysis company Life for Tyres Group (L4T), located in Spain, is investing €42 million to establish a facility in the US. The company, which claims to be “Europe’s largest end-of-life tire recycler”, plans to set up the plant on a plot of land spanning 10 acres at the Port of South Louisiana. The investment is expected to create 46 direct new jobs in St. John the Baptist Parish, according to information published 7 Feb on the local government website.  Read more

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