Automotive Demonstration
Automotive Demonstration tire made from 90 % sustainable material is approved for road use The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (Akron, OH, USA) recently unveiled a demonstration tire comprised of 90 % sustainable materials. This demonstration tire has passed all applicable regulatory testing as well as Goodyear’s internal testing. This demonstration tire also proved to have lower rolling resistance when compared to the reference tire, made with traditional materials. Lower rolling resistance means this tire has the potential to offer better fuel savings and carbon footprint reduction. In addition, after announcing the capability to demonstrate a 70 % sustainable-material tire in January 2022, Goodyear, working with its supply base, plans to sell a tire with up to 70 % sustainable-material content in 2023. Bringing a 90 % sustainable-material tire to market will require further collaboration with the company’s supply base to identify the scale necessary for these innovative materials to produce that specific tire at high volumes. “We continue to make progress toward our goal of introducing the first 100 % sustainable-material tire in the industry by 2030”, said Chris Helsel, senior vice president, Global Operations and Chief Technology Officer. “The past year was a pivotal one toward achieving this goal. We researched new technologies, identified opportunities for further collaboration and utilized our team’s tenacity to not only demonstrate our capabilities to produce a 90 % sustainable-material tire, but to also produce a tire with up to 70 % sustainable-material content this year. Our team continues to showcase its innovation and commitment to building a better future”. This 90 % sustainable-material demonstration tire includes 17 featured ingredients across 12 different components, including: • Carbon black is included in tires for compound reinforcement and to help increase their life. Traditionally made by burning various types of petroleum products is replaced by four different types of carbon black that are produced from methane, carbon dioxide, plant-based oil, and end-of-life tire pyrolysis oil feedstocks. These carbon black technologies target reduced carbon emissions, circularity, and the use of biobased carbons, while still delivering on performance. • Soybean oil is in this tire to keep the tire’s rubber compound pliable in changing temperatures. Soybean oil is a biobased resource that helps to reduce the use of petroleum-based products. While nearly 100 % of soy protein is used in food/animal feed applications, a significant surplus of oil is left over and available for use in industrial applications. • Silica is an ingredient often used in tires to help improve grip and reduce fuel consumption. This demonstration tire includes a high-quality silica produced from rice husk waste residue (RHA silica), a by-product of rice processing that is often discarded and put into landfills. • Recycled polyester from postconsumer bottles by reverting the polyester into base chemicals and reforming them into technical grade polyester used in tire cords. • Resins that improve and enhance tire traction performance – traditionally petroleumbased – are replaced with biorenewable pine tree resins. • Bead wire and steel cords provide reinforcement in the structure of a radial tire. This demonstration tire uses bead wire and steel cord from steel with high-recycled content using a more energy efficient electric arc furnace (EAF) process. The EAF process has the potential for lower greenhouse gas emissions in comparison with steel produced using a blast furnace. • ISCC certified mass balance polymers from biobased feedstock are also included in this tire. The shift to sustainable materials is evident in some of Goodyear’s current product lines. Today, eight product lines, and some racing tires, include soybean oil. In addition, Goodyear has more than doubled its use of RHA silica in its product lines since 2018. With the introduction of a tire with up to 70 % sustainable-material content, Goodyear is demonstrating tangible commitment with in-market solutions to building a better future. AT/MT https://corporate.goodyear.com 20 bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/23] Vol. 18
Fine Mycelium materials for sustainable automotive interiors Automotive Biotechnology company MycoWorks (Emeryville, CA, USA) recently announced its newest investor GM Ventures, the investment arm of General Motors (Detroit, MI, USA), and their long-term agreement to codevelop Fine Mycelium materials for potential use in a range of applications within automotive design. MycoWorks’ collaboration with GM marks the exploration of its entry into one of the largest end-use markets for leather and demonstrates the significant opportunity to create more sustainable materials for the automotive space. MycoWorks’ breakthrough Fine Mycelium technology engineers mycelium, the infinitely renewable root structure of mushrooms, to craft a range of natural, customizable leather alternatives that match the performance of the highest quality animal leather with lower environmental impact. The company’s platform has enabled a new class of premium, non-animal materials which could have the opportunity to support GM’s continued progress toward its vision of a world with zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion. Animal-free and chrome-free, Fine Mycelium also has superior strength at low thicknesses, offering a compelling pathway to efficiency and weight reduction in car interiors while still meeting the most stringent performance, aesthetic, and environmental requirements of the automotive space. “Working with General Motors to introduce Fine Mycelium to the automotive industry is an enormous step forward in the global new materials revolution”, said Matt Scullin, CEO of MycoWorks. “MycoWorks’s collaboration with GM is a first for us outside of the fashion industry, demonstrating the enormous potential and applications for Fine Mycelium”. “Our strategic investment in MycoWorks aims to advance the development of sustainable automotive materials”, said Wade Sheffer, managing director of GM Ventures. “This collaboration will help facilitate R&D efforts and build more sustainable alternatives for our designers”. In August 2022, following an oversubscribed USD 125M Series C funding round, MycoWorks broke ground on its first full-scale production facility, which will enable initial mass-production volumes of several million square feet of Fine Mycelium materials per year, dramatically increase production and partnership capacity, and service Fine Mycelium to a wider range of industries and companies. AT/MT https://www.mycoworks.com/ | https://www.gm.com bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/23] Vol. 18 21
