Sumitomo Rubber targets carbon-neutrality with new hydrogen production deal

Hyogo, Japan – Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) is looking to further decarbonise its tire production operations with the planned introduction of a new hydrogen production system.

The group has entered an agreement with the local government of Yamanashi prefecture for the installation of a “Yamanashi model P2G system” at its Shirakawa tire plant for hydrogen production.

Backed by Japan’s new energy organisation (NEDO), the initiative will use the P2G system to produce hydrogen from renewably sourced electricity, and using it as a thermal energy in the production of tires and other processes.

The green hydrogen produced by the system will be used to create a demo "grandmaster plant" that achieves decarbonisation while maintaining stable plant operations, said SRI 27 May.

The ‘grandmaster plant’, said SRI, will have five sources of energy to operate: hydrogen produced from the P2G system, purchased hydrogen, renewable grid power, on-site solar power generation, and existing fuels.

The group expects to introduce the hydrogen production system at the factory by the beginning of 2025.

The Shirakawa facility, in Fukushima, with a production capacity of 10,350 tonnes per month, conducted a trial between August 2021 and March 2024 using hydrogen energy to produce tires. (ERJ report)

The project involved supplying steam for tire production from a hydrogen boiler and solar panels installed at the factory site.

The steam is then used to operate Neo-T01 – the group’s "high-precision metal-core" production system – during the vulcanisation process.

In January 2023, the site started mass-producing certain tires that achieved carbon-neutrality during manufacturing (Scope 1, 2), through use of hydrogen and solar energy.