Michelin announced its ambitious plan to ensure that by 2048 all of its tyres will be manufactured using 80 per cent sustainable materials and 100 per cent of all tyres will be recycled.
Today, the worldwide recovery rate for tyres is 70 per cent and the recycling rate is 50 per cent. Michelin tyres are currently made using 28 per cent sustainable materials (26 per cent bio-sourced materials like natural rubber, sunflower oil, limonene, etc., and two per cent recycled materials such as steel or recycled powdered tyres). For a sustainable future, Michelin is investing in high technology recycling technologies to be able to increase this content to 80 per cent sustainable materials.
Sustainable materials
The route to this ambitious sustainable material target will be achieved byresearch programs into bio-sourced materials like Biobutterfly and working with Michelin’s high-level partners, and the advanced technologies and materials that are being developed in these partnerships. The Biobutterfly program was launched in 2012 with Axens and IFP Energies Nouvelles to create synthetic elastomers from biomass such as wood, straw or beet.
Michelin is developing innovative solutions today in order to integrate more and more recycled and renewable materials in its tyres, while continuing to improve performance, including 30% of recycled materials by 2048. This is demonstrated by the recent acquisition of Lehigh, a specialist in high technology micro powders which are derived from recycled tyres.
Lehigh Technologies is a specialty chemical company that is part of the High Technology Materials Business Unit of Michelin. Lehigh is the leader in the market place for micronized rubber powders (MRP), a sustainable raw material that reduces feedstock costs by up to 50 per cent and delivers performance without compromise across a wide range of markets. Lehigh makes sustainability an unbeatable proposition. We call it ‘Green for free’.
MRP replaces oil- and rubber-based feedstocks in a wide range of industrial and consumer applications, including high performance tyres, plastics, consumer goods, coatings, sealants, construction materials and asphalt. Lehigh technical experts collaborate with customers to optimize products for each application.
Lehigh operates the world’s largest MRP manufacturing plant in Tucker, Georgia, with an annual production capacity of 54,000 tonnes. Lehigh’s state-of-the-art Application & Development Center, also located in Tucker, and serves as an innovation hub where Michelin conducts research and formulates MRPs in collaboration with its customers. Michelin hasfive product ranges so far – PolyDyne™, MicroDyne™, EkoDyne™, Rheopave™ and Zenoflex™ – and continues to expand the range of solutions in core markets. Lehigh Spain, a joint venture with Hera Holding, is based in Barcelona. The first Lehigh plant outside of the US, located in Murrillo del Fruto, is under construction and will begin operations in summer this year.
Commenting on this venture, Christophe Rahier, Director of the High Technology Materials Business Line at Michelin, said: “This acquisition demonstrates Michelin’s strategic determination to capitalize on its expertise in high-tech materials, in areas that extend beyond the field of tyres. In particular, by promoting the use of innovative recycled materials from tyres in a variety of non-pneumatic industrial sectors”.
Recycling
In 2018, according to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, it is estimated that 1 billion of end of life tyres are generated worldwide, representing around 25 million tonnes. Within this total, 70 per cent of tyres are recovered and 50 per cent are recycled every year, on an average. This 50 per cent is the amount of recycled material into products such as rubber used in sports surfaces, and the additional 20 per cent is transformed into energy.
By comparison, 14 per cent of plastic containers or packages are recovered each year, and the car industry has a target of 3.5 per cent recycling rate. Michelin is investing in high technology recycling so that by 2048 tyres are 100% recycled for the vehicles of the future.
To achieve these ambitions, Michelin proposes to develop partnerships and identify new ways to recycle tyres, or new outlets for recycled tyres.
As a result, a Hackathon was held in 2017, in partnership with Alliapur, to brainstorm solutions in which tire granulates could be used. The winner of this Hackathon was “Black Pillow”, which suggested creating safe urban furniture made of tire granulates.
Potential gains
When all of these ambitions are achieved – 80 per cent sustainable materials and 100 per cent of tyres recycled – the savings will be equivalent to 33 million barrels of oil saved per year (16.5 supertankers), or 54,000 GWh, one month’s total energy consumption of France, 65 billion km driven by an average sedan (8 L/100 km) per year, and all cars in Europe driving 225 km (291 million km), or 54 km for all cars worldwide (1.2 billion cars estimated).
VISION concept
Last year at Movin’On, Michelin revealed its innovative VISION concept. Advanced materials and 3D printing technologies will be used to manufacture and renew the tread of this mobility solution and will mean that it is 100 per cent recyclable. The features of this concept which enhance its sustainability credentials are an airless tire made of bio-sourced and recycled products, a connected eco-system within the tire, providing services and advice to the driver, a bio-degradable tread that can be renewed with a 3D printer, and a mobility solution that reduces the environmental footprint of car journeys.
Michelin and Total to jointly launch worldwide road safety education program
Michelin and Total, leading players in global mobility, are launching a major road safety education program for 10-18 year-olds via their corporate foundations. This project, developed with the support of Global Road Safety Partnership, aims to reach one lakh young people over a three-year period. The Total Foundation and the Michelin Corporate Foundation have decided to contribute 1.5 million euros jointly to this initiative.
Throughout the world, road accidents take the lives of over 227,000 young people under 20. In fact, it is the leading cause of death for 15-17 year-olds. Determined to make a real impact on sustainable and safer mobility, this unique co-operation between Total and Michelin will launch its initial phase in France, Cameroon and India. The plan is then to rapidly expand to other countries and welcome new partners into the program.
Partners of local and regional educational communities, the foundations of the Total and Michelin Groups, will work together to provide solutions taking into account local realities and measuring the impact. This road safety education program for 10-18 year-olds will be developed using an innovative digital platform.
Drawing on the expertise of local Total and Michelin subsidiaries and with the support of local partners and stakeholders, this interface will facilitate deployment of teaching materials to the community of teachers and educators. This tool will also highlight good practices and assess the relevance of various actions, the goal being to customize the tool for each local community, thus optimising effectiveness.
Jean-Dominique Senard, CEO of the Michelin Group, declares: “We are all convinced that digital tools area new opportunity to engage in highly targeted, even bespoke, interaction with people. This innovative program, developed in close collaboration with the Total Foundation teams, will channel this certainty into a priority action: making our roads safer for children and adolescents. At a moment in life when they are developing their autonomy, we want to provide the means for them to learn in harmony with their community.”
“Safety is one of the Group’s key values and our commitment to transportation safety is a priority,” confirms Patrick Pouyanné, CEO, Total. “Drivers cover over 700 million km per year, placing mobility at the heart of Total’s activities. Today, we are sharing this specific road safety expertise with local communities to prevent road accidents, via an educational partnership developed with Michelin. Our strong roots in the host communities ensure the success of this project. By addressing 10-18 year-olds directly, we have a golden opportunity to make them future road safety ambassadors and to contribute, through education, to saving lives.”