Tire Tech Expo: Industry plots roadmap to sustainability goals

Hanover, Germany - At this week’s Tire Tech Expo, a conference stream titled ‘Circular economy and sustainability – chemicals, materials and recycling’ will feature updates on a number of high-profile sustainability initiatives in the tire industry. 

Addressing two of the foremost projects, Martin von Wolfersdorff of Wolfersdorff Consulting Berlin will present a ‘Global update on recovered carbon black and tire-to-tire recycling’.  

Von Wolfersdorff will report on efforts to build up industrial capacity to meet the tire industry’s requirements for recovered carbon black (rCB) and circular feedstocks for synthetic polymers. Key topics will include the need for product standardisation and “precision engineering” when supplying fillers and feedstock to tire manufacturers. 

Meanwhile, Alejandro Navazas, scientific and policy advisor at EuRIC, will review tire recycling trends within the EU, with particular focus on legislative policies. The talk will cover the likely effects of the current “dynamic regulatory landscape” on tire recycling and the broader sustainability objectives of the tire industry. 

Another interesting update is promised from Dr Christian Priou, program manager for Michelin’s BioButterfly project, which aims to produce butadiene from ethanol to manufacture innovative synthetic rubbers.  

Priou will discuss how Michelin, IFPEN and Axens are jointly working to make the Lebedev process more compatible with today’s environmental and economic realities. He will also report on the progress of a demo plant in confirming the technical and economic viability of the butadiene production process. 

Another Michelin-led initiative will be discussed by Dr Jean-Michel Douarre consortium director of BlackCycle, a European project comprising 13 partners.  

The project, which started in mid-2020, aims to create an innovative circular value-chain that goes from the collection of end-of-life tires to the integration of high-quality secondary raw materials into new tires.  

Douarre will report on the progress of Black Cycle, including a recent milestone: the production of several tonnes of sustainable carbon black made from end-of-life tire pyrolytic oil and its use in a Michelin bus tire. 

Delegates can also get the latest news on the progress of a Pirelli project to develop lignin-natural rubber composites for applications in high performance sustainable tires, from Luciano Tadiello, advanced materials researcher and Luca Giannini, materials advanced research manager. 

The Pirelli experts will explain advances made by the tire maker in: a) modifying the surface chemistry of phenols and carboxy groups to boost lignin-rubber interactions; and b) enhancing the latex compounding to effectively disperse the lignin filler in the rubber matrix.  

We will report further on these developments on ERJ On-line and in European Rubber Journal magazine...