How to design a 100% sustainable tire tread compound?

Description

Sustainability is nowadays the strongest driving force for future innovations. There is a high demand from government and industry to increase the use of renewable and recycled materials. Rubber products in general, tires in specific, face this challenge as well. Currently, 10-30% of renewable and recycled materials are used in tire compounds, the rest is based on non-renewable materials.
Ca. 19.25 million tons of tires are produced worldwide each year, they have to be collected at the end of their life to be recycled. In Europe, 95% of all end-of life tires were collected in 2019, 52% were recycled, 40% were used for energy recovery. In Asia, where 62% of all tires are produced, the collected amount is much lower. When tires are successfully collected, the rubber compounds have to be separated from textiles and steel. After that, the rubber compounds have to be grinded and then devulcanized. These devulcanized rubber compounds can be re-used in a virgin rubber compound in small quantities (maximum 10-20%) without compromising too much the required final in-rubber properties.
Using renewable materials in a rubber compounds means to use only ingredients that are bio-based. Bio-based materials mainly consist of a substance derived from living matter (biomass) and either occur naturally or are synthesized. The use of bio-based ingredients can reduce CO2 emissions, can make re-use of waste and means to be less dependent on the limited fossil resources. The production of bio-based ingredients can consume less but sometimes also more energy than that of fossil-based materials. The disadvantages of the use of bio-based materials are the possible competition to food industry, the limited availability and the most often worse performance in the final application.
This paper will discuss the challenges to use bio-based materials in a typical tire tread compound: Covering bio-based rubber, filler types, oils and resins. Possible approaches and further required steps will be presented to achieve a fully sustainable tire tread compound to tackle the goal of several tire producers to become 100% sustainable until 2050.

Period	15 May 2024
Event title	Circularity Days 2024
Event type	Conference
Location	Wolfsburg, GermanyShow on map