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Recovering Carbon Black From End-of-life Tires Gets Major BoostRecovering Carbon Black From End-of-life Tires Gets Major Boost

Japanese partners have secured government funding to develop processes for synthesizing carbon black from end-of-life tires and other sources for use in composites and new tires.

Stephen Moore

January 28, 2025

2 Min Read
used car tires
The project’s goal is to develop technology that will remove impurities from recovered carbon black and produce a material with rubber reinforcing properties equivalent to virgin carbon black.WIN-Initiative/Neleman/Stone via Getty Images

Tire giant Bridgestone is among the partners in an eight-year project funded at more than $112 million to develop commercial manufacturing processes to produce recovered carbon black (rCB) from end-of-life tires and other sources with equivalent performance to virgin carbon black (vCB) derived from petroleum and coal.

This project is a part of demonstrative initiative titled, "Technology Development for Carbon Recycling from Polymer Products Including End-of-Life Tires," proposed by carbon black producer Tokai Carbon together with partners Bridgestone, Okayama University, and Kyushu University. Okayama University is the entity charged with development of special polymers and carbon composites that will employ the rCB as a reinforcing agent.

High-purity rCB

Together, the joint project members aim to develop technology to remove impurities from rCB and produce what Tokai Carbon dubs eco carbon black (eCB), with rubber reinforcing properties equivalent to virgin carbon black (vCB). eCB is a trademark pending registration by Tokai Carbon.

Efforts are already underway to pyrolyze polymer products, including rubber from end-of-life tires, to recover and reuse rCB. However, practical application of rCB in new tires still faces challenges. Among them, rCB has lower rubber reinforcement performance compared to vCB, primarily due to the presence of numerous impurities. As such, typically only 20% of the CB content of a tire can be rCB.

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Additionally, although many end-of-life tires are effectively utilized as fuel through thermal recovery, this process leads to CO2 emissions. With the anticipated growth in automotive and transportation demand, tire demand is expected to rise correspondingly in the future. These efforts are focused on enhancing resource circulation by further enabling the recycling of vCB.

Demonstration plant in the wings

The project's objective is to establish a demonstration plant capable of producing 5,000 tons/year of eCB by fiscal year 2032. Additionally, the project will focus on developing special polymer/carbon composites that enable the reuse of carbon black without the need for pyrolysis of end-of-life tires. Through these initiatives, the joint project members want to realize advanced recycling of limited resources and help reduce the CO2 emissions associated with the production of carbon black and the recycling of end-of-life tires.

Besides Okayama University’s polymer focus, the other partners also have defined roles in the project, as described below.

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  • Tokai Carbon: Development of technology and equipment for secondary processing of rCB into eCB.

  • Bridgestone: Evaluation of the physical properties of rubber using eCB; practical evaluation of tires.

  • Kyushu University: Observation and evaluation of the surface state of eCB; elucidation of rubber reinforcement mechanisms.

About the Author

Stephen Moore

Stephen has been with PlasticsToday and its preceding publications Modern Plastics and Injection Molding since 1992, throughout this time based in the Asia Pacific region, including stints in Japan, Australia, and his current location Singapore. His current beat focuses on automotive. Stephen is an avid folding bicycle rider, often taking his bike on overseas business trips, and a proud dachshund owner.

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