Continental recently added recovered carbon black (rCB) to its newly produced Super Elastic solid tires at its tire plant in Korbach, Germany, thus reducing the use of fossil raw materials and CO₂ emissions. Solid tires such as Continental’s SC20+ already contain around 60% renewable and recycled materials due to their high natural rubber content. By 2050 at the latest, Continental aims to use 100% sustainable materials in its tire products.

The recovered carbon black is supplied by Pyrum Innovations, one of Continental’s partner companies. Pyrum breaks down end-of-life-tires into their individual components in industrial furnaces using a special pyrolysis process. This allows valuable raw materials contained in end-of-life-tires to be extracted and recycled.

Solid tires have a high load capacity and are extremely stable, puncture-proof, maintenance-free and highly economical. They are mainly used in material handling by forklift trucks, airport vehicles, heavy transport vehicles, sideloaders, platform trucks and other industrial vehicles.

Sustainability is becoming increasingly important in the specialty tire segment. Our Super Elastic solid tires combine low rolling resistance, long service life and a comparatively high proportion of sustainable materials.

—Matthias-Stephan Müller, product manager for material handling tires in Continental’s Specialty Tires business area

Most forklift trucks in intralogistics are already powered electrically. The range and charging times of the battery employed are therefore important. Tires with a low rolling resistance can help to keep the energy consumption of electrically powered forklifts low and thus contributing to improved vehicle range.

The rubber compound is crucial for high energy efficiency and therefore low rolling resistance, as valuable natural resources can be saved and the energy consumption of special vehicles reduced.

Industrial carbon black is an important resource used as a filler in tire production and in the manufacture of other industrial rubber products. The targeted use of carbon black in rubber compounds increases the stability, strength and durability of tires.

In the future, the recovered carbon black will also be used in other Continental compounds. Jointly with Pyrum, the tire manufacturer is currently working on further optimizing and expanding the recycling of end-of-life tires using pyrolysis.