Continental: Proportion of Recycled Material in Tires to be Increased

Continental has signed a ten-year contract with Pyrum Innovations, a company specializing in the thermolysis technology of used tires, to recover carbon black from used tires. In the future, recovered industrial carbon black is to be used in the mass production of passenger car tires, according to Continental.

As early as 2022, the tire manufacturer had signed a development agreement with Pyrum Innovations with the aim of further optimizing and expanding the recycling of used tires through pyrolysis. The purchase contract is now intended to further expand the collaboration between the two companies. 

Less CO2 Emissions

Industrial carbon black is used as a raw material both for tire production and for the manufacturing of other industrial rubber products. According to Continental, the targeted use of carbon black in rubber mixtures is intended to increase the stability, strength, and durability of tires - and recovered carbon black from used tires is to contribute to reducing the use of fossil raw materials and CO2 emissions.

Depending on the model, the carbon black content in a car tire of the manufacturer, which gives the tire its black color, is 15 to 20 percent.

Increase Circularity

By using recycled industrial soot, the company aims, according to its own statements, to move one step closer to its goal of using more than 40 percent renewable and recycled materials in their tires by 2030.

"Recycled raw materials are becoming increasingly important in our tire production. For us, the end of a tire's lifespan is only the end of its current usage phase. Our goal is to sensibly reuse products, components, and materials even after the first usage phase," says Jorge Almeida, Head of Sustainability for Continental's tire division, and adds, "We can only increase the circularity of our products if we rethink."

According to Almeida, the end of a tire's usage phase must become the beginning of a new opportunity. Together with Pyrum, highly efficient processes are being developed to return as many components and materials from a used tire back into the production cycle as possible.