Conti using recycled racing tires to make forklift tires

HANOVER, Germany — Continental A.G. is using carbon black from recycled racing tires to make forklift tires, a practice it says is a "sustainable circular economy solution."

Conti recovered the material from 300 CrossContact Extreme E racing tires used during the 2022 season using a special pyrolysis process. The carbon black from those tires, along with material recovered from recycled truck tires, is used in making solid tires, primarily used in forklifts, at Conti's Korbach, Germany, plant.

"By recycling our Extreme E racing tires we are raising awareness of the significant potential of tire pyrolysis," Matthias Haufe, head of material development and industrialization at Continental Tires, said.

"We are in no doubt that cutting-edge and highly efficient pyrolysis processes will make an important contribution to increasing sustainability in the tire industry.

"By 2050 at the latest, we are aiming to have 60% tire-to-tire circularity. Our goal is to use fossil raw materials ever more sparingly and at the same time further reduce our CO2 emissions."

Continental is working with partner Pyrum Innovations A.G. to optimize and expand tire recycling through pyrolysis.

Pyrum uses its patented pyrolysis technology to process end-of-life tires into their individual components, which allows valuable raw materials — such as oil, gas and industrial carbon black — to be extracted and recycled. The materials are used in various ways: The recovered oil, for example, can be used in place of crude oil to manufacture chemicals while the recovered gas can be used as an energy source for the pyrolysis process.

Industrial carbon black is used as a filler in tire production and in manufacturing other industrial rubber products. The targeted use of carbon black increases the stability, strength and durability of tires, Continental said.

Continental will use recovered industrial carbon black in an increasing number of rubber compounds going forward, the company said.

Continental is aiming to achieve 100% carbon neutrality throughout its value chain by 2050.

Continental is the exclusive tire partner of the all-electric race series Extreme E. Its CrossContact Extreme E racing tires were used in five X-Prix of the 2022 season at races in Saudi Arabia, Italy, Chile and Uruguay.

The second-generation Extreme E racing tires were made of about 43% recycled and renewable raw materials including silica from the ash of rice husks and high-performance polyester fibers made from recycled PET bottles using the firm's ContiRe.Tex technology.

"As well as using sustainable materials, it was also important to us to recycle our racing tires. As part of a closed-loop system, these will now become the starting material for new tires," said Nels vonSchnakenburg, technical manager for Extreme E at Continental.

Continental recycled tires used during the 2021 racing season into rubber paving stones that were donated to help make a new basketball court for local children in Hanover.