Nokian Tyres, a tyre manufacturer hailing from Nokia, Finland, has recently signed a research agreement for an international project aiming to improve the quality and yield of recycled carbon black from end-of-life tyres.

This will enable the use of higher amounts of recycled carbon black in rubber compounds, benefiting tyre and rubber product manufacturers in creating more sustainable products.

Carbon black is a compound used as a reinforcing filler in tyres to enhance their physical properties such as strength and resilience. Additionally, recycled carbon black can be used to partly replace the fossil-based virgin carbon blacks, improving overall sustainability over the manufacturing process.

The target of the research project is to improve the properties of recycled carbon black so that it could be used more extensively. Nokian Tyres’ main role in the project is to define the target properties for the improved recycled carbon black and test the materials produced.

“Nokian Tyres has worked on more sustainable tyres for years, and as a company, we want to increase our understanding of recycled carbon black. Getting production scale volumes of improved recycled carbon black would enable testing it in tyres and comparing it to both virgin carbon black and regular recycled carbon black,” says Heini Siekkinen, Senior Manager, Research and Sustainability at Nokian Tyres.

And this isn’t a new venture either. Nokian Tyres included recycled carbon black in a commercial product line back in 2022. This was a step forward in reaching one of the company’s sustainability targets, which is to increase the share of recycled and renewable raw materials in tyres made by the company to 50% by 2030.

When introducing new raw materials in tyres, one of the most demanding tasks is to find the right balance between raw material selection and tyre properties.

“The use of new raw materials requires a great deal of product development efforts and testing to find the best combination, as new raw materials can modify the compound properties. The use of recycled or renewable materials must not impair a tyre’s safety characteristics,” says Siekkinen.

The two-year development project is coordinated by Windspace Group A/S and co-financed by the Danish Eco-Innovation Program. Apart from Nokian Tyres, other participants of the study include Environmental Waste International, Kiso A/S and Danish Technological Institute.

Black star has also launched a new sustainable tyre. Check it out here.