Ahead of this year's Recovered Carbon Black Asia 2024, we spoke with Youlai WU, China Sustainability Manager at Michelin, to get a sneak peek of what we can expect from her presentation on 'A leading tire company’s roadmap to sustainability' Here's what she had to say…




Q1 Your presentation at the inaugural Recovered Carbon Black Asia will cover "A leading tire company’s roadmap to sustainability." Why is it important for others in the industry to hear this message?

In the keynote speech, we will share with industry partners the Michelin's "All Sustainable" approach, share our thoughts on tire sustainability, share the challenges we face and our solutions in reducing the environmental impact of tires.
Starting in 2023, Michelin applies Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to every new tire we design, with purpose to determine the important measures that can be taken to reduce the impact on the environmental footprint that the tire would have. The assessment shows that 12% to 15% of the environmental impact comes from the choice of tire materials. The research and application of recycled carbon black (rCB) technology is one of our countermeasures from this assessment. By using renewable or recycled materials instead of fossil materials, we can reduce the impact on the environment. rCB is one of the key components that can be recycled from End-of-Life Tires (ELT). Not only that, this technology also helps reduce carbon dioxide emissions and opens access to obtain other sustainable raw materials (TPO, recycled steel etc.).
We hope that through these sharing we can reach a consensus with industry partners on concepts, methods, and technological approaches, reach agreement on the direction of efforts and work together to promote the research & application of renewable or recycled materials in tires.

Q2 What are the main challenges in your day-to-day work relating to sustainability in tires/recovered carbon black/tire pyrolysis?

Our research shows that rCB, which is different from fossil carbon black (vCB) in terms of formulation design, industrialization, and rubber product performance. These differences pose significant challenges to our R&D teams who have accumulated rich experience in the application of vCB. At the same time, we also noticed that the challenge of "sustainability" comes not only from rCB itself, but also from every link of the tire circular economy ecosystem and/or value chain: the new technology research and development, the recycling and classification industry, the recycling production industry, the new material application, the economic policy and industry standard institution, and so on.
Challenges drive Michelin forward. The Group’s goal is to increase the proportion of renewable or recycled materials in tires to 40% by 2030, and to achieve 100% renewable or recycled materials tires by 2050. We believe that facing and overcoming these challenges is vital to achieve the ambition of all-sustainable tires.

Q3 What are some of the biggest opportunities gaining attention within the recovered Carbon Black industry?

Challenges and opportunities coexist. The current challenges faced by the rCB in terms of technology research and development, product application, and ecosystem construction are also opportunities in this industry. As a tire manufacturer, we currently pay close attention to professionals and institutions who can analyze the characteristics of rCB in depth and develop rCB industry standards; We are also following the improvement of the tire circular economy ecosystem and value chain. We hope that this forum can reach out to professionals from different backgrounds (technology, applications, supply chain, etc.) and promote the development of this industry through specialized cooperation.

Q4 What do you think will be some of the most interesting advancements in recovered carbon black/tire pyrolysis in the near future?

What we are most interested in and looking forward to is the development of a global standard for rCB, which refers to the standard for rCB that can achieve the same rubber properties. Global standards that transcend geographical boundaries can greatly promote manufacturers to develop applications of rCB in a global scale.

Q5 What are the challenges the tire pyrolysis value chain has to overcome in the next few years?

We believe the biggest challenge is the industrial scale-up of the different Pyrolysis technologies that have been developed at lab or small industrial scale. To serve large industrial supply chains like the Tire industry, rCB producers require large scale rCB production with a very high level of industrial robustness, which today, we consider, is not the case. So, they need access to financing that will allow them to “scale-up their technologies”.

Q6 What collaborations in/with the value chain are you seeking

We are continuing to assess and understand how the tire industry as a whole could potentially help the emerging rCB actors in their efforts to achieve large industrial scale production with consistent rCB product performance.