Bridgestone Scales Up Recovered Carbon Black for the Tire Market

(Photo: Crumb rubber holding bays at Delta-Energy Group plant in Natchez, Mississippi. Credit: Delta-Energy Group)

by | Nov 21, 2019

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Bridgestone Scales Up Recovered Carbon Black for the Tire Market

(Photo: Crumb rubber holding bays at Delta-Energy Group plant in Natchez, Mississippi. Credit: Delta-Energy Group)

Bridgestone Americas says they are scaling up the use of recovered carbon black in the tire market with longtime partner Delta-Energy Group, a Natchez, Mississippi-based developer of technology to recover chemicals from end-of-life tires.

Demand for virgin carbon black, a chemical that gets mixed with rubber to increase the strength of tires, is outpacing supply, according to the US subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation. Delta-Energy Group’s proprietary process to extract materials produces 81% less carbon dioxide per ton compared to virgin carbon black, the tire and rubber company says.

In late 2014, Bridgestone became an equity partner with Delta-Energy and began using their recovered carbon black product, called D-E Black, as a partial replacement for virgin carbon black in new tires. Since then, Bridgestone reports purchasing approximately 235 metric tons of recovered carbon black, which has reduced CO2 emissions by around 765,000 pounds.

Bridgestone says that the company is currently using D-E Black in tires for agriculture and passenger applications in several plants throughout the Americas, including the Bridgestone Des Moines Agriculture Tire Plant, the Aiken County Passenger Tire Plant, and the Bridgestone Cuernavaca Tire Plant.

By the end of 2020, Bridgestone’s plan is to increase their use of D-E Black to 6,800 metric tons — the equivalent of about 2 million end-of-life tires, and a reduction of 24 million pounds of carbon emissions. The tire-maker’s goal is to use 100% sustainable materials by 2050.

“Through the partnership with Delta-Energy, Bridgestone will divert millions of end-of-life tires annually into new products that will give them a new life,” the company said.

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