Raw Materials
Global natural rubber production reached approximately 1.435 million tonnes during October 2022, a 3.5 per cent increase on production a year earlier. The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) reports that its members accounted for around 87 per cent of this production.
Scandinavian Enviro Systems has received a recovered tyre pyrolysis oil order worth SEK 2 million (£158,000) from Preem, Sweden’s largest fuel company. Enviro will deliver the oil in the first quarter of 2023 for Preem’s use in production tests that will determine its suitability for producing biofuels.
Effective November 2022, Asahi Kasei began selling Tufdene S-SBR (solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber) and Asadene BR (butadiene rubber) made using the mass-balance method at Asahi Kasei Synthetic Rubber Singapore Pte. Ltd. and the synthetic rubber plant of Asahi Kasei’s Kawasaki Works. The sale will be based on the ISCC PLUS certification for S-SBR and BR acquired by Asahi Kasei’s Synthetic Rubber Division in October 2022.
Scandinavian Enviro Systems (publ) received an order for its tyre-derived pyrolysis oil from the subsidiary of a leading US oil company for production tests in February 2022. The oil was delivered in June following its approval in accordance with the EU REACH directive, a condition for a final deal.
When it commences operations in 2024, the end-of-life tyre (ELT) processing facility that Bolder Industries, Inc. and three partners are setting up in the Port of Antwerp will be capable of processing approximately 3 million ELTs a year. Bolder says this will “dramatically increase” production volumes for BolderBlack and BolderOil and satisfy increasing demand for these sustainable, circular raw materials in Europe and beyond.
According to Dr Sawar Dhanania, chairman of the Government of India’s Rubber Board, natural rubber production within the country “will not be sufficient to meet the consumer industry’s demands” in coming years. He thus sees an “urgent need” to increase the area under rubber cultivation, something that tyre makers are helping to achieve via the NE-MITRA project.
Mercedes-Benz is starting to equip its EQE and S-Class models with door handles containing materials gleaned from end-of-life tyres, and those involved in the project have been acknowledged for their contribution. Pyrolysis-based recycling specialist Pyrum Innovations, together with BASF, Mercedes-Benz and Witte Automotive, received a Materialica Design + Technology Award 2022 at this month’s eMove360 ° trade fair.
On October 3, the Thailand factory of Jiangsu Xingda Steel Tyre Cord Co and Rojana Industrial Park Public Co held a land signing ceremony. It is reported that after seven months of planning, site selection and communication, the steel tyre cord factory finally decided to place Phase II in the Bowin Industrial Park in Chonburi Province, managed by Rojana.
In September 2022 Asahi Kasei Europe joined a joint project on blockchain technology relating to ISCC PLUS certification. Led by the Dutch software provider Circularise and the Japanese trading company Marubeni, this project aims at enhancing the efficiency of the certification process and the integrity of the certified data.
Using a range of sustainable materials in the tyre tread compound, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has developed the Eagle GO. This concept tyre is fitted to Citroën’s new concept car, oli. The Eagle GO is the third Goodyear concept tyre developed with Citroën.
The goal at Continental is to exclusively obtain natural rubber for its tyres from responsible sources as of 2030. Confirmation of responsible sourcing is essential to natural rubber’s status as a sustainable raw material, and gaining this confirmation requires traceability within the supply chain. Although completely seamless traceability is currently technically impossible, Continental says it is “working at full speed” on a blueprint for the sustainable and responsible structuring of natural rubber supply chains.
The Chinese tyre industry is not optimistic about the future following the first half of 2022, which itself was something of a continuation of the problematic situation experienced in the country in 2021. In short, the overall Chinese tyre industry has experienced severe decline in profits. Shen Jinrong, chairman of ZC Rubber, China’s largest domestic tyre manufacturer and number nine in the world, made the comments during a recent speech at the China Rubber Conference 2022.
The International Rubber Study Group (IRSG) believes there are “no sustainable alternatives” to natural rubber. In order to gain a greater understanding of how climate change economically and socially impacts this industry, IRSG has enhanced its collaboration with the Singapore Agri-Food Lab (SAIL) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). This collaboration may expand in future to focus on sustainability in the supply chain beyond the plantation.
Birla Carbon
Asahi Kasei
Xingda Steel Tyre Cord
Circularise; Asahi Kasei Europe
China Rubber Conference 2022