Rubber industry supports sustainability through material sourcing

When developing a sustainable product, every ingredient that goes into the finished good counts.

Players across the rubber industry know this well as companies race to make their products, as well as their manufacturing facilities, carbon neutral.

This year, companies and associations made the most noise at the beginning and the end of a rubber product's life cycle, focusing their R&D and advocacy toward sustainably sourced materials and how to reintroduce their final products into the supply chain as a sustainably sourced material itself.

Here's a look at the top three ways the rubber industry prioritized better materials for better products.

Last year, companies came forward with oyster shells, wood pulp, rice husk ash and even tomatoes as sustainable alternatives to fossil-based feedstocks. While oysters and tomatoes didn't make a reappearance on the menu this year, companies' appetites for bio-based feedstocks—some familiar, some new—haven't been lost yet.

Milin Environmental Inc. brought a new material to its portfolio, which it showcased at the International Elastomer Conference this fall: rice husk ash silica.

The company, which already has offered devulcanized reclaim, such as butyl, chlorobutyl, EPDM and whole tire rubber, became the exclusive North American distributor of rice husk ash silica produced by its partner, Gujrat, India-based Brisil Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Milin President Ryan Heffernan told Rubber News at the conference that the material had "been very well received," even by companies it didn't expect to be interested.

And a wood-based byproduct made its way into the industry again when, in February, Resolo A.B. made the case for birch bark as a sustainable alternative for rubber.

The Swedish company won Nokian Tyres P.L.C.'s annual "Fast Race, Big Change" sustainable tire innovation challenge for its renewable rubber that utilizes birch bark. According to Resolo, the bark is sourced from the residue of the global pulp, paper and plywood industry, noting a single mill creates 100,000 tons of birch bark residue annually.

The forestry industries in Finland and Sweden alone produce enough raw material for 200,000 tons of Resolo's rubber, according to the company.

Other companies looked to partnerships to further their bio-based goals.

Early in the year, Teknor Apex launched an eco-conscious Monprene thermoplastic elastomer in partnership with UBQ Materials. The TPE, Monprene S3 CP-15170 BLK, is made with 35-percent sustainable content, including post-consumer recycled materials, as well as new material, UBQ.

The patented UBQ is "the world's first bio-based thermoplastic" made from organic and unrecyclable waste. It replaces oil-based materials and diverts municipal solid waste from landfills, according to the two companies.

Kolon Industries Inc. partnered with a forestry company, Helsinki, Finland-based Stora Enso Oyj, in the spring to industrialize the production of bio-based polyesters for use in tire cords.

Through their joint development agreement, the two companies plan to industrialize Stora's proprietary process to produce furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), both of which can be used as feedstock in the production of bio-polyesters like polyethylene furanoate.

Kumho Petrochemical joined forces with styrene monomer manufacturer Idemitsu and Sumitomo Corp. to create a "biomaterial" supply chain. The trio signed a long-term memorandum of understanding to develop sustainable polymers and chemicals in Asia, according to Sumitomo.

As part of the project, Idemitsu will produce bio-based styrene monomer, based on the mass balance method, and Kumho Petrochemical will produce bio-solution styrene butadiene rubber, a key material for high-functional tires, using bio-styrene monomer.

Goodyear partnered with Hayward, Calif.-based Visolis Inc. in the fall, which uses synthetic biology to manufacture high-performance, carbon-negative materials.

Together, Goodyear said, the companies will collaborate on bio-based isoprene. This would then be used to produce polyisoprene, a foundational material for tires and other applications. While isoprene is typically developed from the refinement of crude oil, Visolis uses proprietary technology to generate the material from bio-waste, such as "lignocellulosic" feedstocks.

"We are excited to collaborate with Goodyear and leverage our revolutionary technology to transform waste materials into valuable monomers," Visolis CEO Deepak Dugar said at the time, noting the partnership with Goodyear was a "testament to our shared commitment to sustainable practices and the development of advanced materials that drive positive change."

And just in November, two companies brought forward bio-based developments in the urethanes sector.

Trelleborg announced its partnership with Algenesis Materials for the development of a sustainable TPU for the Swedish giant's fabric coating applications. Algenesis developed TPUs derived from raw materials based on algae and non-food plants, according to Trelleborg, that perform similarly to existing products while also being biodegradable.

And Henkel A.G. claims its new bio-based, wood adhesives reduce CO2 emissions by more than 60 percent compared to their fossil-based counterparts. The polyurethane-based adhesives, HB S Eco and CR 821 Eco, are variants of the company's Loctite engineered wood adhesives for load-bearing timber construction.

HB S Eco, a one-component PU adhesive, is made using 63-percent bio-based materials, is certified according to the ISCC Plus mass balance method and generates 66-percent lower CO2 emissions. CR 821 Eco, is a bio-based two-component PU resin that includes 71-percent bio-based materials, is partly ISCC Plus certified, and gives a 62-percent reduction in CO2 emissions.

The time is now for companies to make their marks on the recycling and sustainability arena.

At least that's what Wayne Embry Jr., president and CEO of North Shore Rubber L.L.C., told Rubber News in the fall about his company.

North Shore has a business model to provide tire-derived polymer, thanks to its relationship with Canada's Tyromer Inc., Embry said, but it also plans to focus on non-tire recycling through its own Closed Loop Management Service.

To make it all happen, the company is planning to build a factory in Northeast Ohio for processing scrap rubber using its devulcanization technology.

"The timing right now is perfect," Embry said, noting that with the jobs the build will create, the company's goal is to develop an "eco-system where sustainability isn't just materials and recycling. It's also community."

And North Shore is not alone in pursuing such operations.

Oldrati Guarnizioni Industriali S.p.A., of Oldrati Group, is investing about $6.7 million toward the development of advanced rubber recycling technology after receiving support from the Italian government as part of an innovation award from the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy, with resources managed by the ministry's Complementary National Fund.

While the maker of rubber, plastics and silicone products did not divulge much information on the specifics of the three-year project, it said it will investigate the "regeneration of technical rubber articles at the end of their life cycle."

In a Nov. 3 earnings call, Cooper-Standard Automotive announced that the company will bring post-consumer recycled materials to its Fortrex portfolio, noting it looks to offer Fortrex made with recycled materials by 2025.

Jeffrey Edwards, chairman and CEO, said this innovation, along with others on the horizon, is "helping our customers to advance their own sustainability goals and objectives."

Over the summer, Ecore International launched its TruCircularity upcycling program. This program allows customers to contact the company to pick up their old flooring, which is then recycled directly into new flooring products, according to Ecore. The new flooring produced from this recycled flooring may also include scrap tire rubber, the company said.

"We are really all about upcycling end-of-life rubber," Deb Lechner, chief marketing officer with Ecore, told Rubber News in the fall.

The program helps customers reduce their CO2 footprints and "close the loop" with circular flooring products.

The company also received a $10 million tax credit from UB Community Development L.L.C. that will allow it to refurbish a brownfield plant in Ozark, Ala., which will house recycling and manufacturing operations.

Recycler TerraCycle and lab equipment and chemical supplier Thomas Scientific L.L.C. are working together to recycle personal protective equipment, namely single-use rubber gloves.

The two companies say all types of gloves—plastic, nitrile, vinyl and latex—can be recycled through their partnership, regardless of brand.

As scrap tire generation grows, so does scrap tire recycling. The gap between the two, however is widening, the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association reported in the spring.

So, it makes sense that the USTMA continued to push for better funding for infrastructure projects using ELT, namely rubber modified asphalt and tire-derived aggregate.

"I think the legislation should stimulate the use of RMA, at least where we would like to see more substantial use, where people and industries will become familiar and understand its cost and environmental benefits," John Sheerin, director of end-of-life tire programs for the USTMA said earlier this year.

The USTMA also laid out what it considers legislative priorities in a letter to Congressional leadership that outlined key areas of continued cooperation to address the evolving areas of tire safety, environmental stewardship and innovation.

And the Tire Industry Association gave a similar push.

TIA, as part of the American Highway Users Alliance, sent a letter May 19 to chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Subcommittees on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations.

"RMA and TDA are both innovative and sustainable solutions that have been proven to enhance the performance and longevity of pavement surfaces, while also reducing waste and environmental impact," TIA said in its letter.

And while the gap between scrap tire generation and recycling widens, that doesn't necessarily mean developing methods for recycling ELT is slowing for several companies.

Early this year, Pyrum Innovations A.G. partnered with Polyfuels Group A.B. for the development of four pyrolysis plants across Northern Europe.

The two companies signed a letter of intent to jointly build and operate the facilities in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Estonia.

Scandinavian Envrio Systems A.B. partnered with Antin Infrastructure Partners to bring online recycling capacity for 1 million tons of ELT by 2030—a joint venture that Michelin has thrown its support behind.

The three companies put out a joint statement this spring that they are poised to build "the world's first large-scale recycling group" for ELTs, to be established in Uddevalla, Sweden. The plant, with construction having started this year, is expected to be operational by 2025 and will account for 40 percent of Sweden's annually discarded tires.

In February, Zeppelin Systems GmbH partnered with Recykl Organizacja Odzysku S.A. to recycle ELT.

As part of the project, Zeppelin Systems will provide the plant engineering technology, which uses automation and zero-waste production systems, and Recykl Group will devulcanize the rubber in the tire recycling process.

In late spring, Ecore International acquired 360 Tire Recycling Group and renamed it as the company's new division, Ecore 360.

The companies developed a strategic partnership in 2022, but decided something more permanent would be beneficial, Trey Bennett, Ecore 360 general manager and former 360 Tire Recycling Group CEO, told Rubber News at the time.

The company said Ecore's acquisition of the tire recycler strengthens its position in tire and buffings collection, while aiding in the procurement of raw materials for the company's flooring and surfacing products.