Tyre demand is expected to reach 2.9 billion units or US$276 billion in 2017. With this huge demand, tyre companies weigh upon the availability of feedstock, costs of materials, as well as manufacturing practices that have to conform to environmental regulations. The use of nanomaterials is reckoned to parry the sustainability concerns in tyre making.
In the latest Nanotechnology and Tyres: Greening Industry and Transport report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which highlights the potential of new nanomaterials, it deduces that the use of new materials in tyre production “could help foster the sustainability of the tyre industry and reduce the environmental impact of vehicles”.
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a CEO-led organisation of some 200 forward-thinking global companies, has accepted the said report, which was originally proposed to OECD and supported by the Business and Industry Advisor Committee (BIAC) through the WBSCD’s Tire Industry Project (TIP). The latter is chaired by the world’s three largest tyre manufacturers, namely Bridgestone (Japan), Goodyear (US) and Michelin (France), and includes 11 companies representing approximately 65% of the world’s tyre manufacturing capacity.
Nanomaterials: a light in the dark tunnel?
The report says that new nanomaterials offer promising avenues for future innovation, which can contribute to the sustainability and resource efficiency of the tyre industry and of the transport sector.
Besides the potential to decrease tyre rolling resistance (improving fuel consumption and CO2 emissions) and lower wear resistance (increasing tyre lifetime), the materials are also able to maintain wet grip and existing safety levels.
Nanomaterials, as defined in the 2011 European Commission (EC) Recommendation, are materials that often have specific properties due to their small particle size, measured in nanometers, which is one millionth of a millimetre, or approximately 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.
Materials engineered in nanoscale are often referred to as engineered nanomaterials (ENMs). ENMs are designed for use in many commercial materials, devices and structures that may range from cosmetics, sporting goods, and clothing to electronics and tyres.
For tyres, nanomaterials could result in significant benefits for customers, the environment and societies more generally, in a way that they help increase car and truck fuel efficiency and durability, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and tyre weight.
Insofar as benefits are assessed, the OECD report also suggests the need for a supporting framework and relevant tools to guide decision making in assessing the economic, social and ecological impacts of the introduction of new nanomaterials in tyre production.
The development of industry-specific guidance to assess the environmental, health and safety risks at various stages of products development is critical, it says. Other recommendations and provisions in the report include:
- A risk management framework to enable sitespecific or company-specific assessments and the development of risk management strategies for using nanomaterials as additives in tyres;
- Insights into the status of nanotechnology innovation and the drivers of innovation in the tyre industry; the economic and social costs as well as benefits; the safe use of new nanomaterials at all stages of their life cycles; the identification of the tools and frameworks supporting decision making at various stages of product development; and the facilitation of outreach and knowledge transfer on the safe use of new nanomaterials;
- Call for policy action to support nanotechnology research and the commercialisation of such research;
- Highlight on the importance of collaboration between governments and industry to address the specific challenges raised by the introduction of new nanomaterials.
According to Philippe Fonta, Managing Director of the WBCSD’s TIP project, the project took two years to undertake.
“It provides a guidance for risk assessment for the use of nanotechnology in the tyre sector and sets the basis for the safe and responsible introduction of these promising technologies, while taking full consideration of their socio-economic and environmental impacts,” concluded Fonta.