Tire-Makers Claim Tire Abrasion Doesn’t Inflict Harm on Human Health
World-known tire-makers has carried out a series of tests to prove that micro-elements emerging from tire abrasion is safe for human health as well as for environment in general. Neither inhaling these elements from air nor their quantity in soil and water is dangerous for their level lies below toxicity line.
The so-called Tire Industry Project (TIP) gathered Bridgestone, Continental, Cooper, Goodyear, Hankook, Kumho, Michelin, Pirelli, Sumitomo, and Toyo automotive manufacturers to work under the idea of healthy environment. Its aim is to reveal and eliminate potential harmful influence of the materials used in tire production. The project runs under the auspices of the WBCSD while the TIP participants are in charge of 70 per cent of the world tire industry.
After the elements disposed into soil and water were tested the researchers dealt with air toxicity to find out that there’s no harm in inhaling tire abrasive elements. The results have also shown that tire wear doesn’t inflict harm on the environment for the concentration of micro-elements in soil and water is too low to become dangerous for human health.
The tests were carried out in the Seine river basin in France, in the Jodo basin in Japan as well as in Chipsake gulf in the USA.
The TIP participants are also looking forward to the use of nanotechnologies in tire production. It can partly solve ecological problems alongside with bringing benefit to end consumers. For instance, innovative nanomaterials can enhance modern passenger and truck vehicles’ fuel efficiency and hence reduce the amount of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
Moreover, the TIP community actively promotes new schemes of worn tire utilization and their recycling and further use.
Goodyear Innovations on the Way to Clean Production
Goodyear engineers are working now under the creation of the new RunOnFlat tire that is going to feature the lowest rolling resistance possible while at the same time being made from eco-friendly materials only. To achieve this goal, Goodyear collaborates now with an Italian Novament research company and the BMW.
One of the main tasks of the project was to replace standard rubber compound with the bio one. The new compound is to be made from renewable materials such as corn starch, which makes the tire eco-friendly not only by its materials but also by low rolling resistance it shows.
The tire has for a long time been made from carbon black, which doesn’t comply with modern eco safety requirements. And although silica was introduced nearly twenty years ago, neither carbon nor silica can further reduce rolling resistance. That is why tire-makers are searching for alternative decisions to create eco-friendly tires now.
Ten years ago Goodyear unveiled the Eagle GT3 tire made under the BioTRED technology. The company used the Mater-Bi compound for it, which minimized the use of carbon and silica. From then on, Goodyear has been advancing in this field and now their corn starch tires are based on the following three aspects:
Firstly, corn fields improve the state of the environment for corn absorbs carbon dioxide to produce oxygen. Secondly, energy needs as well as harmful emissions during production cycles were reduced. And thirdly, the new compound ensures low rolling resistance of the tire it’s made from, which reduces your vehicle’s fuel consumption and hence lowers the amount of CO2 emissions.
Bridgestone and Goodyear Move Eastward
Two Bridgestone plants situated in Chinese towns Tianjin and Uci are going to increase the production of radial passenger tire. In this way Bridgestone wants to satisfy consumer demands in radial tires in the area. The company’s main goal here is to promote its eco-friendly Ecopia tire.
The new facilities at the Uci plant are scheduled to be brought into operation in May 2012 while the Tianjin plant will increase its production capacity in July. All in all, Bridgestone will invest 75 and 140 million Euro in both plants respectively.
The company plans to produce as many as 16,300 tires per day in Uci, the total quantity being increased by 4,100 units. The Tianjin plant, in its turn, will achieve the number of 25,300 tires per day in summer 2012.
Speaking about Goodyear company, I should congratulate them on receiving the “Superbrand” award in Delhi. Goodyear got highest marks in a number of respects and was the only tire-maker to be honored in this way. The award was given to Rajeev Anand, Goodyear India vice-president and managing director.
Mr Anand says that Goodyear India is highly proud of the fact. The award signifies the hard work done by all the company’s employees and partners. He added that the company’s strive for innovations and their investments into scientific research help them go ahead of the others.
Cover Your Roof with Used Tires
Used tires are often used as raw material for completely new products. While Israeli road-makers build roads from old tires the European Euroshield company, a well-known roof-maker launched the new eco-friendly shingles. The shingles is made from processed tires and includes 75 per cent of them in its structure.
Euroshield advertizes its new shingles as a powerful alternative to a standard one. Its excellent durability makes it a profitable investment into the safety and a long life span of your house.
With its new shingles Euroshield contributes to the reduction of environmental pollution as nowadays most of the used tire is thrown away. Yet, the company doesn’t stress the “green” character of its new product, unlike, it point to its high quality and exceptional durability. In this way the company maintains that any product must comply with strict ecological norms and mustn’t inflict harm either on the environment or on human health.
Firstly, cord is removed from used tire. Secondly, the tire is crumbled into large pieces. Thirdly, rubber pieces are covered with slate powder and heated in special forms to reconstruct shingle texture. Then every piece is equipped with a dedicated holder so that the shingles could be fixed to each other. Each shingle measures 90*90 cm. You need 600-1000 such shingles to cover a standard roof.
Euroshield is going to launch three variants of its rubber shingles, slate-, concrete- and wood-like. In comparison with standard roofing materials, the new tile isn’t subject to cracks, cuts, decay or deformation. Of course, the shingles isn’t cheap at all as the company spent more than ten years to create such a thing. On the positive side, the company grants the shingles a fifty-year warranty on. Furthermore, the shingles can be totally processed after its service term comes to an end.
