For the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500 on 28 May, Bridgestone has incorporated ISCC PLUS certified recycled butadiene, a monomer produced from hard-to-recycle used plastic shopping bags, film, stretch wrap and other flexible polymer packaging, developed in partnership with Shell, in all Firestone Firehawk race tires used at the... Read more →

Dumping large quantities of end-of-life tires (ELTs) in landfills creates a focus of colonies of insects and rodents, as well as a hazard of fire that generates billowing smoke and causes situations of environmental and health alarms in neighboring towns. More than 176,000 tonnes of ELTs are collected in Spain... Read more →

Bridgestone Americas held the world debut of its new Turanza EV grand touring tire, the company’s first replacement tire designed specifically for premium electric vehicles and the first to feature Bridgestone ENLITEN technology. Launching immediately at tire retailers nationally, the new Bridgestone Turanza EV grand touring tire was purposefully designed... Read more →

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company announced a new tread formulation for its ultra-high performance, all-season ElectricDrive GT tire, tuned for electric vehicles, in size 235/40R19. The specialized tread compound that provides enhanced all-season traction will include Monolith carbon black produced by methane pyrolysis. This tire, which will be manufactured... Read more →

Butadiene, an essential component of synthetic rubber, is currently produced by the petrochemical industry from fossil reserves. Butadiene can also be produced from ethanol by one of two primary methods: Lebedev, which converts ethanol over one catalyst in one reactor, and Ostromisslensky, which converts a mixture of ethanol and acetaldehyde... Read more →

The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., announced that it is supplying its ADVAN V61 tires to Lexus for use as original equipment (OE) tires on the new RZ, the Lexus brand’s first dedicated battery electric vehicle (BEV), which was launched in Japan and other countries, including in Europe and Asia, from... Read more →

Bridgestone Americas has produced a run of demonstration tires made with 75% recycled and renewable materials (38% renewable, 37% recycled content), including synthetic rubber made with recycled plastics and natural rubber harvested from hevea and guayule grown domestically. The company has completed production of 200 demonstration tires and is pursuing... Read more →

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company introduced the Powerload lineup to the North America construction, loading, logistics support and landscaping markets. The new Powerload lineup, now available in North America, has advanced features and technologies specifically designed to deliver traction and durability for compact wheel loaders and graders, regardless of... Read more →

Sumitomo Rubber Industries will launch FALKEN e. ZIEX as a new line of replacement tires for electric vehicles (EV) in Europe, where the market for EV has been growing rapidly. Featuring the highest level of fuel (energy) efficiency of any tire that the company has offered to date, e. ZIEX... Read more →

A newly approved standard from ASTM International’s recovered carbon black committee (D36) provides a test that will help to differentiate products and provide a quality control tool for producers and users. Recovered carbon black (rCB) is a recycled product made from end-of-life tires. Recovered carbon black can reduce the tire... Read more →

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company introduced RangeMax RSD EV, Goodyear’s first electric vehicle-ready tire compatible with EV and gas- or diesel-powered regional work vehicles. The RangeMax RSD EV is Goodyear’s best regional drive tire for energy efficiency. Equipped to handle the higher load capacities of EVs, RangeMax RSDEV was... Read more →

A new briefing paper from Imperial College London estimates that in 2021, 52% of all small particle pollution from road transport came from tires and brakes. The researchers, from Imperial College London’s Transition to Zero Pollution (TZP) initiative, warn that even though electric vehicles remove the problem of fuel emissions,... Read more →

Solvay is investing at its Livorno, Italy site to launch the company’s first unit of circular highly dispersible silica (HDS) made with bio-based sodium silicate derived from rice husk ash (RHA). Rice husk is an abundantly available agricultural waste. Combustion of rice husk produces RHA, which consists mainly of silica... Read more →

In an important step towards safer and more sustainable goods movement through autonomous transportation, Goodyear and Gatik (earlier post) have demonstrated, in a proof-of-concept, that intelligent tires powered by Goodyear SightLine technology can accurately estimate tire-road friction potential and provide real-time information to Gatik’s automated driving system (ADS). The capability... Read more →

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company unveiled a demonstration tire comprising 90% sustainable materials. This demonstration tire has passed all applicable regulatory testing as well as Goodyear’s internal testing. A sustainable material is defined as a bio-based/renewable, recycled material or one that may be produced using or contributing to other... Read more →

Researchers at the University of Vienna (Austria) have demonstrated that tire wear particle (TWP)-derived compounds are readily taken up by lettuce with measured maximum leaf concentrations between ∼0.75 for N-phenyl-N′-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-p-phenylenediamine (6PPD) and 20 μg g–1 for hexamethoxymethyl melamine (HMMM). In an open-access paper in the ACS journal Environmental Science &... Read more →

Smithers, a leading provider of testing, consulting, information, and compliance services, released a new whitepaper reporting the effects of temperature on tire rolling resistance. Tire rolling resistance is closely related to overall vehicle fuel economy or range in both ICE and electric vehicles (EVs). Currently, it is understood that rolling... Read more →

Hankook Tire has launched the company’s first tires in the US that are specifically designed for electric vehicles (EVs). The iON evo AS and iON evo AS SUV are the first in Hankook’s full line of EV tires and have been designed to meet the demands of EVs in all... Read more →

Continental and Security Matters (SMX), an innovative tech platform specializing in digital tracking using unalterable chemical-based barcodes, have succeeded for the first time in verifying beyond doubt a marker substance for natural rubber in a tire, and thus throughout the entire production process. The dedicated marker technology, which both companies... Read more →

LanzaTech and Sumitomo Riko Company have entered into a joint-development agreement to reuse rubber, resin and urethane waste for the production of a key chemical intermediate, isoprene. Isoprene is produced by plants, and along with its polymers, is the main component of natural rubber. Natural rubber is widely regarded as... Read more →

The US Department of Agriculture has awarded Bridgestone and several partners a $35-million grant to continue its investment in desert shrub guayule (earlier post) to advance a climate-smart domestic rubber industry and offer a solution for growers amid the ongoing water crisis in the Southwestern US. The grant will be... Read more →

A new method to ensure consistency and quality in rubber manufacturing, developed by a research team from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Eastman, is likely to show real-world impact on material sustainability and durability for products such as car tires. An open-access paper on their approach, “Sulfur Dispersion Quantitative... Read more →

London-based EV tire manufacturer ENSO said it is in discussions with multiple international car makers and has begun trials with major fleet operators. Multiple EV manufacturers have expressed interest in fitting ENSO’s range-extending, emissions-reducing tires. Fleet operators, meanwhile, are investigating fitting ENSO’s tyres to their electric vehicles to help lower... Read more →

Teijin Frontier, the Teijin Group’s fibers and products converting company, has developed an eco-friendly tire cord made from an adhesive that does not contain resorcinol formaldehyde (RF), which is harmful to the human body and the environment, and also incorporates a low-environmental impact chemically recycled polyester fiber for rubber reinforcement.... Read more →

To stay ahead of growing demand in the electric vehicle (EV) market, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has launched the all-new Goodyear ElectricDrive all-season tire and two new sizes for its ultra-high performance tire, the Goodyear ElectricDrive GT. With the addition of four new sizes to its EV tire... Read more →

A new study by The University of South Australia (UniSA) has tested and verified the structural integrity of walls constructed from tires packed with earth, with the results potentially providing new opportunities for the reuse of end-of-life tires in the construction industry. Tire waste represents a major sustainability challenge globally,... Read more →

As part of its commitment to accelerating the use of sustainable technologies in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Bridgestone Americas (Bridgestone) has developed an all-new race tire with a sidewall made with natural rubber derived from the guayule desert shrub. Bridgestone made the competition debut of these Firestone Firehawk alternate race... Read more →

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, which supplied essential products for NASA’s Apollo program, including the Apollo 11 mission which landed on the moon 53 years ago, will continue that tradition—focusing on lunar vehicle tires—by joining Lockheed Martin in its development of a lunar mobility vehicle in partnership with General... Read more →

India-based global tire-maker Apollo Tyres, which markets its products under the global brands Apollo and Vredestein, will launch its first dedicated micro-mobility tire, the Vredestein Cargo. Developed specifically for electrically assisted cargo bikes used for urban deliveries, the new tire will make its debut at Eurobike 2022 in Frankfurt, Germany... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group (the Group) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Michelin to develop next-generation tires optimized for premium electric vehicles (EVs). The agreement is a follow-up to the first five-year partnership signed in November 2017 jointly to develop an exclusive tire for IONIQ 5 and carry out experiments... Read more →

New research has found that mixing rubber from used tires with bitumen can halve the rate of sun damage to roads. Researchers at RMIT University in Australia collaborated with Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA) to discover the ideal blend that is both UV-resistant and withstands traffic loads, with the potential to... Read more →

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company announced a new formulation of its popular Endurance WHA waste haul tire made with a renewable soybean oil compound. The Endurance WHA is now made with soybean oil, which replaces a portion of the petroleum-based materials used in its production. The soybean oil in... Read more →

Asahi Kasei has developed a system to calculate the carbon footprint of products (CFP) for the synthetic rubber and elastomers products Asadene, Tufdene, Asaprene, Tufprene, Asaflex, Tuftec, and S.O.E. with CFP data provision to customers scheduled to begin in June 2022. CFP visualization is achieved utilizing the DEEP (Data Exploration... Read more →

Yokohama Tire Corporation (YTC), a subsidiary of Yokohama Rubber, will be supplying YOKOHAMA tires to about 18 cars competing in the 100th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb to be held on 26 June. The supplied tires will include the first provision of YOKOHAMA’s ADVAN A052 street sports tires made from... Read more →

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company announced an important step in its global journey to fully replace petroleum-derived oils by 2040. For the first time in its commercial truck tires, Goodyear is replacing a portion of the petroleum-based materials used in production of some of its most popular Metro Miler... Read more →

As part of a broader initiative to accelerate the use of sustainable technologies in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Bridgestone Americas (Bridgestone) announced plans to debut Firestone Firehawk race tires made with guayule natural rubber grown and extracted at the company’s guayule R&D facilities in Arizona. (Earlier post.) The guayule race... Read more →

Bridgestone Americas is partnering with LanzaTech to address end-of-life tire waste. The two companies will co-develop the first dedicated end-of-life tire recycling process leveraging LanzaTech’s proprietary CCT (Carbon Capture and Transformation) technology, creating a pathway toward tire material circularity and the decarbonization of new tire production. According to the Tire... Read more →

Teijin Frontier Co., Ltd., the Teijin Group’s fibers and products converting company, has developed an eco-friendly staple polyester nanofiber that offers excellent performance to reinforce rubber uses in products including automotive tires, hoses and belts. Staple fibers—textile fibers of discrete length—are used to strengthen rubber in products required to withstand... Read more →

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is collaborating with the US Department of Defense (DoD), the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) and BioMADE to work with Ohio-based Farmed Materials in a multi-year, multi-million-dollar program to develop a domestic source of natural rubber from a specific species of dandelion. Natural rubber... Read more →

The Audi Environmental Foundation is developing filters for urban runoff in conjunction with the Technical University of Berlin (TUB). The filters prevent tire wear particles and other environmentally harmful substances from being washed into sewers and bodies of water along with rainwater. Initial field and lab tests have now demonstrated... Read more →

Small particles from tires inhibit the growth and cause adverse behavioral changes in organisms found in freshwater and coastal estuary ecosystems, according to two new Oregon State University studies. The findings are part of a continued effort by scientists to unravel the impacts of microplastics and nanoplastics on aquatic ecosystems... Read more →

Every time it rains, fish living downstream of storm drains are exposed to pollutants, including the tire-derived compound 6PPD-quinone, in the runoff. Recently, this substance has been linked to massive die-offs of coho salmon across the US West Coast. Now, researchers in Canada report that exposure to 6PPD-quinone at environmentally... Read more →

The US Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) is urging congressional leadership to continue working on tire policy and related transportation sustainability initiatives. While the recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) includes several provisions that would advance scrap tire markets and improve the resiliency of the nation’s infrastructure, USTMA has... Read more →

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has released a demonstration tire with 70% sustainable-material content. The 70% sustainable-material tire includes 13 featured ingredients across nine different tire components, including: Carbon black is included in tires for compound reinforcement and to help increase their life and has traditionally been made by... Read more →

Methane pyrolysis technology company Monolith, a leader in clean materials production (e.g., hydrogen, earlier post; carbon black, earlier post), has received conditional approval for a $1.04-billion loan from the US Department of Energy (DOE). Established via the Title XVII Innovative Energy Loan Guarantee Program, the loan will allow Monolith to... Read more →

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has launched the new ElectricDrive GT, Goodyear’s first replacement tire in North America tuned for electric vehicles (EVs). The Goodyear ElectricDrive GT is an ultra-high performance, all-season tire that delivers long-lasting tread wear and a quiet ride for EV drivers and passengers. Electric vehicles... Read more →

Murata Manufacturing and Michelin have co-developed a new generation of RFID modules that are embedded into tires. The robust passive RFID tags require no external power supply and will continue to operate while being driven on for extremely high mileages. This simple yet elegant technology delivers low-cost and easy tire... Read more →

Monolith, a leader in clean carbon black production, signed a collaboration agreement and letter of intent (LOI) with The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, one of the world's largest tire companies. As part of the agreements, Monolith expects to collaborate with Goodyear on the development and potential use of clean... Read more →

Asahi Kasei, a diversified Japanese multinational company, concluded an agreement with Shell Eastern Petroleum (Pte) Ltd. regarding the supply of butadiene derived from plastic waste and biomass. Asahi Kasei plans to begin producing and marketing sustainable solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber (S-SBR) using sustainable butadiene at its plant in Singapore by the... Read more →

The US Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) will produce cryogenically milled tire tread (CMTT) and provide samples to researchers to advance scientific study on tire and road wear particles (TRWP). In 2020, independent global emissions testing company Emissions Analytics reported that pollution from tire wear can be 1,000 times worse than... Read more →