E4S Awards - Hankook, Hyosung, SK Chemical
1 Oct 2025
Project: Tire with chemically recycled PET
Hankook Tire & Technology in collaboration with SK Chemicals and Hyosung Advanced Materials developed an ‘electric vehicle-exclusive’ iON-branded tire with recycled PET from discarded plastics materials (rPET) used in tire cords.
SK Chemicals is providing chemical recycling technology to break down discarded PET, while Hyosung Advanced Materials has developed the high-strength recycled PET-based tire cords for the iON tires.
The new iON tire has a 45% sustainable material content and has recently passed the reliability verification by “a European automotive manufacturer”, Hankook announced.
The tire is being mounted as tires for new vehicles, it added.
Other sustainable materials used in the tire include bio-based, circular, and bio-circular polymers and bio-based silica, noted Hankook.
Judging comments
“Ambitious and forward thinking and great to see some cross-sectoral activity (eg packaging into tires) with the rPET element to the fore. Hopefully the chemical recycling will deliver the right purity of material content. Hopefully also the project can sustain steady and guaranteed supplies of the PET waste stream - which can be limited and always commands a premium price for the highest bidder."
Good work across the different areas, from chemicals recycling at industrials scale, fibre optimisation and development of a tire with 45% sustainable material-content. More information would be helpful. Described as a commercial first in South Korea and the tire has met stringent requirements for use on EU roads.
Strengths include the innovation, collaboration to deliver industrial-scale manufacture of a pioneering, sustainable tire for EVs. Entry could be improved with more details and a clearer vision about what happens next.
