Sumitomo Adopts Circular Carbon Black In Dunlop Tires

Recycled rubber materials produced in collaboration with Mitsubishi Chemical

Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) has adopted circular carbon black in the mass production of Dunlop-branded tires for the first time.

The SRI group said it has been incorporating resource-circulating carbon black in some mass-produced passenger car tires at its production facility in Miyazaki, Japan, since November, 2025.

The circular carbon black is produced by chemically recycling rubber scraps generated in tire manufacturing and from used tires.

The technology has been in development since January, 2025 in partnership with Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.

As part of the collaboration, SRI supplies Mitsubishi Chemical with rubber scraps generated in the manufacturing process, as well as recovered carbon black (rCB) produced  from end-of-life tires.

Mitsubishi Chemical feeds these into coke ovens and chemically recycles them to produce resource-circulating carbon black.

The tire maker used the raw material in racing tires in August, 2025 for the GT300 Round 4 at the 2025 Autobacs Super GT, where they demonstrated consistently stable performance throughout.

© Scrap Tire News, January 2026