Bridgestone Using Recovered Carbon Black In New Tires

Partnership with Delta Energy Group aims to recycle more than 2 million tires by end of 2020

Bridgestone Americas, Inc. has begun using recovered carbon black (rCB) in high-quality tires for agriculture and passenger vehicles at its Des Moines, Iowa agriculture tire plant and is planning to scale up its use by 2020. In a November 19 press release, Bridgestone said this is the industry’s first at-scale use of recovered carbon black (rCB) in the tire market and has been achieved through Bridgestone’s long-standing partnership with the Delta-Energy Group, LLC

Bridgestone is using D-E Black® in agriculture and passenger tires at several plants throughout the Americas, including the Bridgestone Des Moines Agriculture Tire Plant, the Aiken County Passenger Tire Plant and the Bridgeston Cuernovaca Tire Plant.

D-E Black® is Delta-Energy’s proprietary rCB product produced from end-of-life tires using Delta’s patented DE Polymerization process.

According to Bridgestone, D-E Black has properties similar to virgin carbon black and is a viable partial substitute for virgin carbon in reinforcing rubber compound in tires.

“The D-E Black material has minimal impact to properties and performance and can be applied to have equivalent tire performance with no or little tuning required,” Jamie McNutt, Technical Fellow, Bridgestone Americas Technical Center, said in a presentation at the ITEC In Focus conference in September.

The DE Polymerization process produces less than 81 percent carbon dioxide per ton as compared to virgin carbon. The process also saves 840 gallons of oil, Bridgestone said.

The partnership with Delta-Energy marks a significant milestone in achieving Bridgestone’s long-term goal of using 100 percent sustainable material and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 50 percent by 2050, the company said.

The investment also serves a larger mission at Bridgestone to drive toward a circular economy that eliminates waste through the continual use of resources.

“Bridgestone Group is deeply committed to advancing an environmentally sustainable society by supporting a truly circular economy,” Nizar Trigui, chief technology officer, Bridgestone Americas, Inc. said. “Through this partnership with Delta-Energy Group, we hope to shape the future of our industry and ensure efficient mobility solutions for generations to come.”

Bridgestone began evaluating Delta-Energy’s materials in 2007 and became an equity partner in late 2014. Since that time, the use of D-E Black as a partial replacement for virgin carbon black in new tires has undergone extensive testing to ensure compliance with the high standards and superior quality and performance for which Bridgestone tires are known.

To date, Bridgestone has purchased approximately 235 metric tons of rCB, the equivalent of more than 764,000 end-of-life tires, resulting in the reduction of approximately 765,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, compared to using virgin carbon black.

By the end of 2020, Bridgestone plans to increase the use of D-E Black to 6,800 metric tons, equivalent to about 2 million end-of-life tires and a reduction of about 24 million pounds of carbon emissions – enough to power nearly 2,000 homes or more than 2,300 passenger vehicles for an entire year. In addition, the company is continually assessing new opportunities to expand its usage of D-E Black into additional plants and product lines.

© Scrap Tire News, December 2019