Continental focuses on green tyres

Made from renewable raw materials and containing only very small quantities of fossil materials, “green tyres” are the stuff of dreams for any tyre manufacturer. Chemists at l Continental are working on making this dream come true.

They are already replacing fossil oils with rapeseed oils and polyester with rayon as reinforcement for the body of the tyre (carcass). At the same time, synthetic and natural rubber is being replaced by increasing quantities of recycled rubber from old tyres. But in the eyes of Dr. Boris Mergell, Head of Material and Process Engineering for Continental, it is a rocky road: “Not all raw materials in tyres can simply be replaced by renewable materials,” he explains. “In many cases, such materials have a negative impact on braking performance or rolling resistance – and we will not accept any compromise here. Also, the widespread replacement of fossil materials with renewable raw materials is not always a solution since it requires acreage that might already be used in food production.”

He explains that a standard Continental passenger car tyres already contains almost 45% non-oil-based materials. “In terms of environmentally friendly materials, tires are better than their reputation,” he says.