Bridgestone has now joined Continental as an end-user of rCB, meaning the rCB tyre market continues to open up to the opportunity provided by recyclates.
Bridgestone Becomes End-User of Recovered Carbon Black
For many years almost anybody working with tyre pyrolysis has told anyone who would listen about how one tyre manufacturer or other was interested in their product. The level of interest may not always have been what the developers had hoped for.
However, the dam has burst – Continental, always more open about recycling, has announced its supply deal for 10,000tpa from Pyrolyx, upon which it has based a not inconsiderable expansion programme.
Now, Bridgestone has opened up with the announcement that it plans to use some 6.800 tones by the end of 2020.
Bridgestone has spent well over a decade working with its partner Delta Energy Group to create recovered carbon black. Delta Energy has recycled the material from discarded tyres. Delta Energy and Bridgestone have repurposed the carbon black for new tyres.
Bridgestone said it had purchased well over 235 tons of recovered carbon black, or the equivalent of about 70,000 end-of-life tyres. The move also has significant positive implications for C02 production. Just the amount purchased so far has kept 765,000 pounds of C02 emissions out of our air compared with the creation of new carbon black. Overall, there’s an 81% reduction in C02 production in recovered carbon black compared with creating new carbon black material.
Bridgestone said it now plans to increase rCB use.