Tires made from plastic bottles arrive in Spain

Plastic bottles could be the material of the future for tire manufacturing. By recycling it, it is possible to mechanically obtain a durable polyester yarn from polyethylene terephthalate (known as PET) that will be used in the manufacture of the tire carcass, which can completely replace conventional polyester. This is not really science fiction, as the first tires manufactured with this new system are already on the market and can be bought in Europe.

Continental tires with polyester made from recycled PET bottles are now available at various points of sale. In April of this year, the manufacturer started series production of the so-called ContiRe.Tex technology, which can completely replace conventional polyester in the tire casing. Currently, the premium tire manufacturer offers three models in five dimensions, each with polyester made from recycled PET bottles: the PremiumContact 6 and EcoContact 6 summer tires and the AllSeasonContact all-season tire.

During the recycling process, the bottles are first sorted, then corked and finally mechanically cleaned. After being crushed, they are melted and granulated. This is followed by solid state polymerization and a modified spinning process. “Our modified manufacturing process allows us to obtain polyester yarn for tire construction from PET bottles without any monomer polymerization process,” explains Derren Huang, Head of Research and Development at OTIZ.

Conventional PET has long been used as a tire material because it retains its shape even under high loads and temperatures, thus ensuring safe driving regardless of the speed used. Using recycled PET saves valuable resources in tire production: today a conventional car tire consists of about 400 grams of polyester yarn. This means that in the future more than 60 recycled PET bottles can be used for a complete set of tires for a vehicle.

Continental presented for the first time in September 2021 the ContiRe.Tex technology, which uses polyester yarn for the manufacture of the tire casing and is obtained from used plastic (PET) bottles without intermediate chemical steps, and in addition no other way can be recycled. This makes the technology much more efficient than other standard methods of converting these popular bottles into high-quality polyester yarns. The bottles used for this technology come exclusively from regions without a closed recycling loop. A set of standard passenger car tires uses the material of about 40 recycled PET bottles. Tires with ContiRe.Tex technology have a special logo on the sidewall (CRM “Contains Recycled Material”) for better identification by the consumer.

Source: La Verdad

Ida

I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.