Sooner or later, massive smokey burnouts will not merely burn rubber if tires from Continental are concerned. The worldwide producer is engaged on a plan to make tires utterly out of sustainable, recycled supplies by 2050, however merely grinding up outdated tires to make new ones will not be sufficient. That is the place plastic bottles, dandelions, and rice husks are available. Wait, what?
Pure rubber is sourced from particular timber within the type of latex, and that can proceed to be a key ingredient for producing tires sooner or later. Nonetheless, will probably be supplemented by different plant-based assets equivalent to dandelions, that are additionally a supply of rubber. Silica can also be utilized in tire manufacturing and performs a task in varied points of efficiency, from grip to rolling resistance. Typically sourced from quartz sand, plant-based oils is usually a silica complement. Rice husks left over from rice manufacturing are a very good supply of silica, with Continental saying the husks are a extra energy-efficient answer for manufacturing.
As for plastic bottles, Continental can use them to create a polyester yarn used for the tire casing. Relying on the bottle dimension, between 9 and 15 bottles might be recycled for one tire. As with the Rice husks, Continental says utilizing the bottles is a extra energy-efficient various for capturing polyester wanted for manufacturing. This course of is already getting used on the firm for some tire casings. After which there’s the method of recycling outdated tires, separating rubber, metal, and cords in what Continental says is a “extremely subtle course of.”
In concept, the results of all these efforts might be tires constructed from 100-percent recycled or sustainably sourced supplies. In line with Continental, such supplies already account for between 15 and 20 p.c of contemporary tires.
“Continental is on the street towards turning into probably the most progressive producer within the tire business by way of sustainability,” mentioned Continental’s Head of Sustainability Claus Petschick. “We purpose to make use of 100% sustainable supplies in our tire merchandise by 2050 on the newest. Our modern energy permits us to interrupt new and much more sustainable floor. This encompasses every thing from the origin and sourcing of our supplies by to the reuse and recycling of our tires.”
