Michelin produces 100% recycled-styrene SBR at French rubber plant

Montreal, Quebec – Michelin Group has produced styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) using 100% recycled styrene monomer from Canadian supplier Pyrowave.

The styrene was produced from plastics waste using Pyrowave’s microwave technology, the Montreal-based company announced 13 Sept.

Michelin, it added, then used the monomer to produce a four-tonne prototype batch of the SBR at its Bassens plant in France.

The elastomer was said to have "passed all quality tests” and to match the “quality and intrinsic properties" of elastomers made using fossil-derived styrene.

With SBR production processes being “relatively sensitive to contamination”, Pyrowave said the results “demonstrate the reliability" of its technology.

Pyrowave said it shipped its first batch of recycled monomer produced from polystyrene waste to Michelin in France last November.

The Canadian company added that a 3-tonne consignment of its recycled styrene would support the production of over 1,000 passenger car tires.

The recycled styrene, it continued, is “fully traceable and segregated [with] all the styrene physically present in the product rather than a credit-based content.”

According to Pyrowave, its microwave technology can produce recovered styrene that is “identical to virgin material”, but with a 45% reduced carbon footprint.

Michelin and Pyrowave have been collaborating since 2020 to accelerate time-to-market for the Montreal-based company’s waste recovery technology.

In a joint development agreement in November 2020, the two sides said they aimed to commercially roll out the technology, supported by investment of over €20 million.

At that time, the partners said they aimed to develop a Michelin funded and operated  'industrial demonstrator' for the microwave technology, by 2023.