Four French firms have come together to work on a significant used tyres-related project. Michelin is leading the team trying to extract rubber and alcohol from such tyres.
TREC Gets Underway
Michelin and three more French companies have joined hands to develop advanced applications for old tyres. The project has been named TREC and is being executed under the leadership of Michelin. There’s a €51 million budget, extending over a period of eight years, backing the venture. This massive figure includes €13.3 million from ADEME – Agency for the Environment and Energy Management from France, as a part of the Government’s green initiative – “Investing in the Future”.
This organisation has granted these funds to Michelin and one more partner, SDTech. This futuristic project will cover all the phases pertaining to research and development; ranging from defining scientific concepts to extensive pilot testing and validating the results on industrial demonstrators.
TREC Phases
Michelin and associates have divided TREC into two key areas – TREC Regeneration and TREC Alcohol.
The former involves regeneration of rubber compounds to form new tyres. The latter will facilitate manufacturing a chemical intermediate required to produce raw materials employed in tyre manufacturing process. Alcohol thus obtained from used tyres will eventually find application in BioButterfly, a key butadiene production project, along with biomass alcohol from some other sources like sugar, agricultural waste and wood.
Michelin will use the expertise of SDTech and PCAS-member Protéus for TREC Regeneration, particularly in the areas of selective de-vulcanisation and also micropowder. This involves employing biotechnologies for creating a micropowder, which works as raw material in manufacturing HP tyres.
For TREC Alcohol, Michelin will come together with Protéus and CEA – French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission. Michelin will work with the latter’s Liten facility to devise a series of technologies such as old tyre gasification and syngas fermentation to generate alcohol.
Partners’ View
Terry Gettys, Michelin’s R&D director stated that the tyre giant’s innovation strategy continues to focus on exploiting raw materials to the maximum. He further said that TREC is a perfect illustration of ecodesign and will help them creating latest high-performance tyres using high-quality raw materials derived from old tyres. He attributed the potential achievements to the combined expertise of SDTech, Protéus and CEA.
He expressed pleasure at being able to harness the potential of microorganisms and enzymes for Michelin’s strategy of sustainable mobility.
SDTech chairman and CEO, Jalil Benabdillah, said that they felt honoured at getting an opportunity to be a part of TREC, along with prestigious partners like Michelin. He added that they are continually fostering the spirit of innovation to meet the tyre maker’s expectations.
Protéus CEO, Juliette Martin, said that since its inception in 1998, biotechnology industry has recognised their firm as a benchmark in the area of sustainable development, and he added that Protéus is proud to partner with Michelin in this effort.
CEA’s Liten facility’s director, Florence Lambert, concluded saying that their teams have unmatched proficiency in gasification processes. He expressed confidence that with their help Michelin will be in a position to validate its industrial preferences.
Source: Tyre Blog
Published: 13 Feb 2014