On Wednesday, Goodyear unveiled a tire made from 70% sustainable materials. It’s a step towards the company’s goal of making tires from 100% sustainable materials by 2030.
While the tire isn’t ready for production (Goodyear calls it a “demonstration tire”), it does show a number of materials Goodyear is working on to cut fuel use, as well as emissions. from the production process.
According to a Goodyear press release, the tire consists of 13 sustainable materials – including soybean oil, rice husk ash silica, bio-based polymers, fabric made from recycled plastic bottles and renewable plastics – on nine components. part of the tire.
Some of the carbon soot used in tires is also not made from burning oil, a traditional manufacturing process, which creates more pollution. Tires include three carbon black colors produced from carbon dioxide, vegetable oil and methane. These are more sustainable processes, Goodyear claims. The company also notes that methane can be replaced with “renewable natural gas” to further reduce emissions.
Goodyear tires are made from 70% sustainable materials
Goodyear also recently announced that it will be partnering with chemical company Monolith for sustainable carbon black production. The Department of Energy approved a $1.04 billion loan to Monolith for that technology, starting with natural gas and splitting it into hydrogen — potentially used in fuel cell vehicles — and carbon black.
Tire manufacturers have been experimenting with sustainable materials for some time. In 2009, Yokohama announced the tire made of orange peel as a way to reduce gasoline use. A decade later, Bridgestone announced plans to use recovered carbon black in the large-scale production of new tires.
Goodyear also tried to attack the problem from a different angle. Its 2020 ReCharge concept used liquid-filled capsules to regenerate the tread, potentially extending the life of the tire. However, that technology is not yet production-ready.
It is also important to note that all pollution from tires comes from the manufacturing process. Tire dust is a significant form of localized air pollution that will remain a problem even after the new vehicles are all electric.
