Towards Net Zero - July/Aug

Latest developments in the drive to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions targets in the global rubber & tire industry: 

Bekaert has signed a 10-year "virtual" power purchase agreement with Rezolv Energy, an independent power producer in Central and Southeastern Europe. The deal will see Bekaert buy 100 GWh of additional renewable power per year, reducing annual emissions by more than 41 000 tonnes of CO2e. The power will come from the 461MW ‘Vifor’ wind farm, which has been developed by Rezolv and Low Carbon in Buz?u County, Romania. Vifor, currently under construction, is expected to be Europe’s largest onshore wind farm when fully operational by end of 2025. The project can generate energy to power more than 270 000 homes, saving 540,000 tonnes of CO2e annually.

Michelin expects to unlock a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions across its UK-based Stoke-on-Trent-based logistics fleet this year by securing 400,000 litres of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) to replace with diesel. The cleaner burning fuel is projected to save 1,024 tonnes of CO2, powering 50 heavy goods vehicles which deliver Michelin tires from Stoke to UK distributors.

Continental’s truck & bus tire manufacturing plant in Púchov, Slovakia, has recently obtained ISCC+ sustainability certification. The certification confirms the transparency of the traceability of the raw materials used in the production process. Púchov is Continental’s third ISCC+ certified production site, following the tire plants in Lousado, Portugal, and Hefei, China.

Italian tire recycler Rubber Conversion has supplied recycled rubber to automotive major Stellantis and Bridgestone Corp. for use in new products as part of the Life Green Vulcan project. Read more

Goodyear is on track with plans to deliver a 100% sustainable-material tire by 2030, according to its recently published 2023 Corporate Responsibility Report. In 2024, Goodyear is continuing to advance its materials science and technology “making good the use of renewable, recycled and bio-based material inflows.” Read more

JK Tyre has become the first Indian tire maker to achieve ISCC+ certification. The certification, for JK Tyre’s Chennai plant, confirms compliance with criteria such as traceability of raw materials, adherence to environmental regulations, preservation of ecosystems, upholding labour and human rights, and promoting sustainable economic development. JK Tyre aims to become a carbon-neutral brand by 2050 and reduce its carbon intensity by 50% by 2030. The Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) has validated the company's commitment to lowering overall greenhouse gas emissions.

Waste tire pyrolysis companies Klean Industries Inc. and L4T have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore joint projects for end-of-life tire (ELT) recycling globally. Read more

Kraiburg TPE’s production site in Malaysia has recently obtained the Global Recycled Standard (GRS) certification for selected thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs). The TPEs are typically used in applications such as personal care, household appliances, wearables, and consumer electronics. The certification confirms that the chemicals used comply with international regulations and standards while the recycled content of the compounds are ‘verified externally’. The certification also helps with traceability and transparency of the materials, while helping customers reduce their carbon footprint. Read more

Birla Carbon has received ISCC+ certification for another four of its carbon black production plants: Cubatao and Camaçari in Brazil, Tiszaujvaros in Hungary, and Alexandria in Egypt. Earlier this year the Indian carbon black manufacturer secured ISCC+ certification for its facilities located in the US, South Korea, India, and Italy. According to the company, certification process for the rest of Birla Carbon’s plants is currently underway and is slated for completion through the remainder of 2024.

Continental Tires manufacturing plant in Hefei, China, has become the company’s latest production site to receive the ISCC+ sustainability certification. The standard certifies that Continental meets specific sustainability standards while confirming “transparency of the traceability of the raw materials used in the production process.” Prior to Hefei, Continental had achieved the certification for its tires produced in Lousado, Portugal. The tire maker has ambitious targets of becoming “completely climate neutral” by 2050, with a mid-term goal of producing 40% sustainable tires by 2030.

Hyosung Advanced Materials has claimed a ‘tire cord industry first’ with FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification for its Lyocell-branded tire cord. FSC certification is a certification developed to prevent production methods that damage forests and for sustainable forest management. Hyosung said the certification is for cellulose-based, 100% biodegradable Lyocell tire cord produced at its factory in Vietnam. The tire cord, according to the Korean group, “can significantly reduce harmful substances such as carbon disulphide and hydrogen sulphide generated during the manufacturing process.” The manufacturing process also produces less waste water, making it possible to produce tire cord using an eco-friendly method compared to rayon.

South Korea's Hankook Tire has started series production of ISCC+ certified EV summer tires at its manufacturing plant in Racalmas, Hungary. Developed in link with Hankook iON Race tires, which have been competing the FIA Formula E since 2023, the iON evo features 45% sustainable material content, Hankook announced 28 May. Read more

Bridgestone Americas has produced a Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 race tire that incorporates two monomers sourced from the waste residue of palm oil processing. The bio-styrene and butadiene monomers are included in this year’s NTT Indycar series tires and are certified by ISCC for the transparency and traceability of sustainable raw materials throughout the supply chain.

China’s Sailun Group has joined the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) as a member, having passed the officially passed a review by the GPSNR executive committee. The membership supports Sailun’s efforts in recent years to “integrate the concept of sustainable development into the supply chain management,” said the Chinese tire maker. The group noted that it is “committed to NR environmental protection and the construction of a responsible supply chain system.” In the future, Sailun said it will continue to comply with the policy requirements of GPSNR and work with stakeholders to support sustainability in the global NR value chain to.

BASF is expanding its biomass balance offering to include BMBCertTM 1,4-butanediol (BDO), tetrahydrofuran (THF), polytetrahydrofuran (PolyTHF®) and 3-(dimethylamino)propylamine (DMAPA). The German chemicals supplier said its production facilities in Ludwigshafen, Germany and Geismar, Louisiana, had achieved ISCC+ certifications for all the products. The grou’ps Ulsan site in South Korea has also obtained certification for biomass balance PolyTHF.

Continental AG has been able to produce CO2-neutral tires at its manufacturing plant in Lousado, Portugal, since the beginning of the year.  The site uses an electric boiler to generate steam for the production of the tires, supported by self-generated solar power and renewable electricity purchased from the grid. Read more

Chinese tire maker Sailun Group has set itself a target of reaching '100% sustainability' by 2050. Towards that goal, by 2023 the group aims to achieve 40% sustainable content in Sailun tires by 2030 and a 30% decrease in energy-consumption and carbon emissions per tire compared to 2022. Sailun has also unveiled two new high-content sustainable material tires: a passenger car radial tire with a sustainable content of 75% and a truck and bus radial tire with a sustainable content of 80%. The PCR and TBR tires boast a rolling-resistance coefficient of 6.0 and 3.8, respectively, meeting the grade A standards of EU labelling regulations.

Zeon Group greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2030 have been approved by the science-based targets initiatives (SBTi). The approval confirms that the targets “align with scientific standards for limiting global warming,” said the group in a statement 26 April. Read more

Polish startup Ecopolplast has received Stena circular economy award for creating a TPE made with 100% recycled materials. The company’s Ecoplastomer materials are said to “significantly reduce” environmental impact and CO2 emissions. The materials can be readily recycled, providing a ‘closed loop’ for end-of-life products. The elastomer is claimed to have “similar density and hardness” to traditional TPEs, making it easy to integrate into standard manufacturing processes.

Sumitomo Rubber Singapore, a natural rubber procurement company for the Sumitomo Rubber Group, has taken part in a project initiated by Itochu Corp. to enhance the sustainability of tires. The Project Tree will see stakeholders promoting activities to support smallholder farmers, such as identifying and mitigating risks associated with sustainability and capacity-building for yield increase. The project involves the use of apps for mapping of natural rubber supply-chains as well as blockchain technology to support compliance with the EU Deforestation Regulation.

Pyrum Innovations has received ‘recycled claim standard’ sustainability certification for its pyrolysis oil used in textile production. The certification ensures that the oil meets all the necessary sustainability criteria required by BASF for the production of its polyamide-based Ultramid Ccyled textiles. Pyrum’s certified pyrolysis oil is fed into BASF's production process and allocated to the polyamide using the mass balance approach.

Bridgestone Corp. has received an A rating in the "supplier engagement evaluation" conducted by CDP, an international non-profit organisation formerly known as carbon disclosure project. Bridgestone said it had been certified as a "CDP2023 supplier engagement leader", marking the sixth time the Japanese group has received the certification. The title recognises companies’ efforts to reduce climate change and greenhouse gas emissions throughout their supply chains.

BASF, Sabic and Linde on 17 April inaugurated the world’s first demo plant for large-scale electrically heated steam cracking furnaces. Located at BASF’s site in Ludwigshafen, Germany, the unit aims to show that by using electricity from renewable sources, the new technology can cut CO2 emissions by at least 90%. The plant produces ethylene, propylene, and “possibly also higher olefins” from saturated hydrocarbon feedstock and is integrated into the existing steam crackers in Ludwigshafen.

Hyosung TNC has unveiled plans to invest $1 billion (€940 million) in a new production facility to manufacture bio-based butanediol (bio-BDO) in Vietnam. Under phase I, the company intends to reach a production capacity of 50ktpa of bio-BDO by 2026, with plans to further expand output to 200ktpa. The project will deploy technology developed by US-based bio-tech company Geno.  Read more

Japan Elastomer Co., a joint venture between Asahi Kasei and Resonac, has achieved ‘platinum’ rating in EcoVadis sustainability survey for its Oita manufacturing plant, in Oita Prefecture, Japan. According to Asahi Kasei, Platinum rating is given to companies that are “in the top 1% of companies evaluated”, and this is the first time that an organisation within the Asahi Kasei Group has received this rating. EcoVadis' evaluations  targets 120,000 companies from 180 countries and over 200 industries. 

Japan’s Teijin Aramid has achieved a golden rating in EcoVadis sustainability survey, placing the company in the ‘top 5% of all companies in all industries globally and in the top 3% of all man-made fibre manufacturers worldwide.” In a recent statement, the company said the high score reflected achievements in “environmental sustainability, ethical practices, and labour & human rights”.

Sumitomo Rubber Industries has received SBT certification granted by the Science Based Targets Initiative for its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for 2030. The group received certification to reduce its scopes 1 and 2 emissions, from its own activities, by 55% by 2030, against the baseline of 2017. For scope 3, which involves emissions from the supply chain, the group expects a 25% cut by 2030 from the 2021 baseline... Read more

Kumho Petrochemical has signed an MOU with SK geo centric and Tongsuh Petrochemical for the establishment of a sustainable bio-based raw material supply-chain. Under the partnership, the three companies have agreed to cooperate in converting monomers acrylonitrile and butadiene monomers from the existing raw material supply-chain into bio-monomers...  Read more

Carbon black supplier Orion SA has maintained a gold medal rating from EcoVadis and ranks "among the top 2% of the companies assessed by the organisation". Orion improved its score from the previous year, moving up from 77% to 78% by making significant gains in the areas of sustainable procurement and ethics, according to EcoVadis.

Pyrum has signed a partnership deal with GreenTech Recycling Tires AB for the construction of an end-of-life tire (ELT) recycling plant in Sweden. The partners, said the German pyrolysis company, plan to build a recycling plant with a capacity to process 20ktpa of ELTs. Pyrum will contribute up to €3m to the ‘strategic value partnership’, provided that Swedish company GreenTech secures funds for the project. Read more

In South Korea, Hankook has launched commercial production of tires featuring recycled PET from discarded plastics materials. In collaboration with SK Chemicals and Hyosung Advanced Materials, the company has developed an ‘electric vehicle-exclusive’ iON-branded tire with rPET used in tire cords. SK Chemicals employs a chemical recycling technology to break down discarded plastics and use them as raw materials for recycled polymers...  Read more

Kraiburg TPE’s climate protection targets in March 2024 have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The German elastomers compounder said it “met” the requirements for participating in the initiative in May 2023: signing the “SBTi commitment letter.” Signees must present their climate protection targets and measures to achieve them within 24 months. From a base-year 2021, Kraiburg TPE’s scope 1 and scope 2 CO2e emissions are to be reduced by 46.2% by 2031, with the company also working towards a 27.5% reduction in scope 3 emissions.

For natural rubber smallholder farmers the task of adapting decades-old farming practices to meet new sustainability requirements is highly complex and challenging, writes Chen Chee Wei, impacts and assurance associate at the GPSNR. The transformation being advocated goes beyond the simple distribution of guides or some seeds –  it demands a shift in farmers’ mindset. However, solutions are within reach...  Read more

Pirelli has announced that all tires used in the FIA Formula One World Championship will be marked with the FSC (forest stewardship council) logo. The logo certifies that all the natural rubber used in the tires complies with environmental and social criteria required by the FSC. The first free practice sessions on 29 Feb at the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix debut of the tires.

Linglong Tire has been certified by the ‘responsible supply chain initiative’ (RSCI), a German automotive industry association (VDA) scheme to enhance supply-chain sustainability. According to Linglong, RSCI is focused on checking and further developing the sustainability of companies' supply chains "by means of appropriate tests directly at the production site." For Linglong, the current certification relates to its plant in Zhaoyuan, China, where OE tires intended for the European market are manufactured. Other Linglong factories supplying OE tires will also be checked in the near future.

Waste tire pyrolysis company Pyrum is making “good progress” with its rollout plan, as it begins initial works on the site of its second German facility. The company started “first work” on the new location in Perl-Besch, near the Luxembourg border, in late February, weeks after the local council had approved the project. “With the clearing work starting as planned, the property is now being prepared for further construction work,” Pyrum said 28 Feb.  Read more

German bicycle tire supplier Schwalbe has increased the sustainable content of its tires to 70% to 80%, now using recycled nylon supplied by Formosa Taffeta. The recycled nylon is used in the carcass of the tire and replaces petroleum-based nylon. Seawastex materials come from discarded fishing nets and is produced by Taiwan-based carcass manufacturer Formosa.  Read more

Covestro is targetting ‘scope 3’ climate neutrality by 2050, as part of its latest climate strategy announced 29 Feb. The German polymers supplier also aims to cut 10m tonnes of scope 3 GHG emissions by 2035, 30% below the level of base-year 2021. Scope 3 emissions from upstream and downstream supply-chains make up 80% of the company's total GHG emissions. Raw materials purchased by Covestro are responsible for the greatest share of scope 3 emissions.

Willich, Germany-based Alliance Future Tire (AZuR), an initiative to drive forward sustainability in tires, has added two new partners: Synthos and Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI). The new partners bring “significant reinforcements in elementary segments of the sustainable tire circular economy,” said AZuR in a statement 14 Feb. Read more

Pyrum has announced a new ‘milestone’ in an ongoing expansion project at its flagship recycling plant in Dillingen, in the German state of Saarland. The waste tire pyrolysis company has now delivered a ‘first truck-load’ of around 24,000 litres of pyrolysis oil to BASF, from the third commissioning run of reactor II (TAD 2) at the site.  Read more

Scandinavian Enviro Systems (Enviro) on 13 Feb broke ground on its large-scale end-of-life tire pyrolysis plant in Uddevalla, Sweden. The tire recycler and its JV partners Antin Infrastructure Partners and Michelin finalised plans for the Uddevalla unit earlier in February. The facility will have capacity to recycle 34.5 kilotonnes per annum of waste tires, equal to 40% of the annual ELT arisings in Sweden...  Read more

 Tire pyrolysis company Life for Tyres Group (L4T), located in Spain, is investing €42 million to establish a facility in the US. The company, which claims to be “Europe’s largest end-of-life tire recycler”, plans to set up the plant on a plot of land spanning 10 acres at the Port of South Louisiana. The investment is expected to create 46 direct new jobs in St. John the Baptist Parish, according to information published 7 Feb on the local government website.  Read more

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