The worldwide leading German auto and truck parts manufacturing Company, Continental A.G. also known as Conti is planning to build a truck/tire retreading plant in Hanover, Germany to be used in producing rubber tyres made out of recycled rubber.
“In the face of limited raw materials, we see it as our obligation to come up with sustainable solutions in tire production and retreading,” said Andreas Esser, head of Conti’s commercial vehicle tires business unit.
“We are now able to process used tread buffings and ground end-of-life tires in such a steered and controlled way that it can be reused in the production of new and retreaded tires,” he said as he notes that the company has developed a recycling process of rubber to assist the company in producing new and retreated tires.
The company has also said that this new approach in producing tyres can double the volume of recycled rubber, but did not tell about the specific volume of recycled rubber to be used in its new tyres or retreaded tyres.
The facility that they will be developing for the said project will cost US$ 14 million and is the first of its kind globally. Esser also said the facility will have a capacity of 180,000 retreaded tires.
“This marks the next step in optimizing the utilization of raw materials in tire production,” said Boris Mergell, vice president material and process development and industrialization.
The new plant should be capable of processing 4,000 metric tons of used tires annually which can save about 2,400 tonnes of rubber and 1,600 tonnes of silica and carbon black.
“ About 41 percent of so-called end-of-life tires in the European Union are used for incineration in the cement industry, while another 35 percent are “downcycled” and used in low stress technical rubber goods, such as molded rubber products.”, Conti said.
(PRA)