Continental: Recycled racing tires become forklift tires

Swords to plowshares is a phrase from the Bible: Continental has adopted a similarly positive recycling approach for about 300 tires used in the 2022 season within the fully electric racing series Extreme E. They were processed using a special pyrolysis method, and the resulting carbon black was used for the production of solid tires for forklifts at the Korbach plant.

"With the recycling of the Extreme E racing tires, we are drawing attention to the great potential of tire pyrolysis. We are convinced that modern, highly efficient pyrolysis methods will make an important contribution to greater sustainability in the tire industry. Today, we already use circular raw materials in our tire production. By 2050 at the latest, we aim to recover 60% of the materials used in our tires from old tires,” reports Matthias Haufe, Head of Material Development and Industrialization for Continental's Tire Division.

Recovering Oil, Gas, and Industrial Carbon Black

Together with its partner Pyrum Innovations, Continental is currently developing processes to expand the recycling of used tires through pyrolysis. The goal is to use recovered industrial carbon black in an increasing number of rubber compounds in the future. Pyrum processes used tires with its patented pyrolysis technology into their individual components. This way, valuable raw materials can be recovered and reused from used tires, including oil, gas, and industrial carbon black. The recovered oil can be reused, among other things, for the production of chemicals. Otherwise, crude oil would be used for this purpose. Recovered gas serves, for example, as an energy source for the pyrolysis process.

Industrial carbon black can be used as an essential filler in rubber compounds for both tire production and the manufacture of other industrial rubber products. Its targeted use increases the stability, strength, and durability of tires.

Extreme E Racing Series: Focus on Sustainability

Continental is the exclusive tire partner of the all-electric racing series Extreme E. During the five X-Prix of the 2022 season in Saudi Arabia, Italy, Chile, and Uruguay, the CrossContact Extreme E racing tires were used. In developing the second generation of the Extreme E racing tires, the premium tire manufacturer has focused on increasing the proportion of sustainable materials. Approximately 43% recycled and renewable raw materials were used. These include silica from rice husk ash and ContiRe.Tex technology. With this technology, Continental produces high-performance polyester fibers to reinforce the tire carcass by recycling PET bottles, which would otherwise often end up in incineration plants or landfills.