News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

At CES Las Vegas 2023 in Nevada, The SMART Tire Company (STC) recently unveiled an almost unbreakable tire – a technological breakthrough that could revolutionize the industry. Using a technique developed by NASA that has already been used on the wheels of the Mars Curiosity vehicle, STC created its first commercial product METL tires in collaboration with the NASA Glenn Research Center. The award-winning SMART Tire (which stands for Shape Memory Alloy Radial Technology) has a patented load-bearing design that takes advantage of the unique properties of shape memory alloys. These special metals can expand, contract, bend or unbend at a very rapid rate (like rubber) and with so much force that it can move heavy objects. Even with extreme deformation, the tire regains 100% of its shape through phase transitions at the molecular level

Bridgestone Americas announced it is on pace to achieve one of its highest year-over-year results in its Bandag business with a 9% increase over 2021. With the growth experienced by strategic fleet partners and the unprecedented demand in the market, the company forecasts year-end sales of Bandag retreads will reach more than 7 million units in North America and anticipates continued growth in 2023 with a $60 million investment in its Abilene, Texas retread plant to increase production capacity.

Martin von Wolfersdorff – a renown carbon black expert from Berlin – is happy to share 5h of previously payable webinar content on his Youtube channel. Martin von Wolfersdorff is a world-class expert in pyrolysis and recovered carbon black as well as marketing of specialty chemical materials. He is deeply involved in the industry, serves one of the organizers of the first global conference on recovered carbon black and has been supporting multinational companies in the tire pyrolysis sector, the tire industry, tire trade organizations, rubber and the plastics industries.

Nokian Tyres in North America started 2022 with ambition. It ended as a success despite unexpected challenges, thanks to strong partnerships, growth at the company’s North American factory, and popular products tailored to the needs of drivers in the region, said officials. “When we started 2022, the sky was the limit,” said Nokian Tyres Vice President of Sales Tommi Heinonen. “We were launching new products and the market was moving.” Then war broke out in Ukraine, clouding Nokian Tyres’ sales outlook and disrupting its supply chain.

Apollo Tyres has been one of the most vocal companies about sustainability among the tire makers that are not in the leading pack of OE suppliers. But Apollo has big ambitions to be part of the OE supplier club, and is rapidly building its sustainability credentials. Would you like to know about Apollo´s sustainability journey? Please join Mobility & Tire Webinar #40 free webinar presenting Rinika Grover, Head of Sustainability & CSR at Apollo Tyres and regular panellists Eduardo Minardi of Minardi Global, and David Shaw of Tire Industry Research.

On behalf of our Client, a South-Eastern European entity, we seek a suitable off-taker for the unmilled and non-pelletized (raw) recovered Carbon Black (rCB). The Client has over a decade of experience in the pyrolysis industry. The Client seeks immediate off-takers for the readily available 4,000 tons of raw rCB, which is stored in 600kg big bags. In addition, the Client can supply 600 to 800 tons of raw rCB per month. Test results can be shared on request.

The Yokohama Rubber Co. announced that it will supply ADVAN racing tires with a sustainable material content as the control tire for the Japanese Super Formula Championship from the 2023 season. The company has completed development of tires for use in dry conditions and will continue developing tires for wet conditions with the aim of supplying them from 2023. The dry condition tires being supplied by Yokohama Rubber use natural rubber and various naturally derived compounding agents including oil produced from oil palm nuts and orange peels, as well as recycled iron, rubber recycled from waste tires, and synthetic rubber produced using the mass balance method – a method that allows you to label a commercial product as a biomass-derived product based on the volume of biomass-derived raw materials used during the process of turning raw materials into final products and the distribution process.

Plans for the 2023 Recircle Awards have been revealed by Valebridge Media Services (VMS), a global media services agency with offices in Crewe, the United Kingdom; Madrid, Spain; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The third annual Recircle Awards will recognize sustainable innovation, production methods, management, and services within the tyre retreading and recycling industries. A total of 22 awards, representing a broad and balanced variety of categories from the whole tyre business, will be presented at the Recircle Awards in 2023. Two of the category winners for 2023 will be revealed and awarded their prizes at a significant premiere ceremony that will take place on Wednesday, March 8 during the Tyrexpo Asia exhibition in Singapore.

After announcing the capability to demonstrate a 70% sustainable-material tire in January 2022, Goodyear, – one of the world's largest tire companies – working with its supply base, plans to sell a tire with up to 70% sustainable-material content in 2023. On January 4, Goodyear unveiled a demonstration tire comprised of 90% sustainable materials. This demonstration tire has passed all applicable regulatory testing as well as Goodyear’s internal testing. This demonstration tire also tested to have lower rolling resistance when compared to the reference tire, made with traditional materials. Lower rolling resistance means this demonstration tire has the potential to offer better fuel savings and carbon footprint reduction.