Trelleborg in ‘green’ project at Sri Lanka tire plant

Makola, Sri Lanka – Trelleborg Wheel Systems (TWS) is planning to fully re-engineer its Sri Lanka facility’s steam production process through the introduction of “an advanced biomass boiler.”

The Makola plant, near Colombo, manufactures solid tires for the materials-handling and port industries, as well as pneumatic tires for light agricultural applications.

The investment, said a company statement 24 April, will reduce the plant’s environmental footprint and improve production efficiency.

Set for operation in June, the biomass-fired boiler will reduce CO2 emission by over 90%, compared to the furnace oil boiler currently in use, Trelleborg claimed.

The manufacturing plant, it said, currently produces over 11 kilotonnes per annum (ktpa) of CO2 equivalents and consumes 3.5 million litres of furnace oil a year.

With the new biomass system, the carbon footprint will be reduced to less than 1ktpa of CO2 equivalent, the company noted.

The investment is in line with a target to address the environmental performance across the tire life-cycle, according to Paolo Pompei, president of TWS.