Teijin develops world's first recycled polyester tyre cords

15 Dec '08

2 min read

Teijin Fibers Limited announced that it will start supplying chemically recycled ECOPET PLUS polyester fibers for the cords of Toyo Tire & Rubber's PROXES Ne tires, which are special tires designed for environmentally oriented passenger cars.

ECOPET PLUS is created through a closed-loop recycling system called ECO CIRCLE, which was developed by Teijin.

ECOPET PLUS will be used for the carcass, which functions like the framework of a tire. Until now, recycled materials were unable to meet the strict requirements of tire carcass fabric; however, thanks to its high quality, Teijin Fibers' eco-friendly ECOPET PLUS has been adopted by Toyo Tire & Rubber.

Union Tire Cord, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Teijin Fibers, will process raw ECOPET PLUS, preparing it for production into tire cord.

Background
The rising interest in development of ecological products, recycling and carbon dioxide reduction has contributed to an increasing demand for environmentally friendly automobiles. In the case of eco-friendly automotive parts, including tires, an especially key component of automobiles, the focus is on developing products that help to prevent global warming, save resources, enable recycling and lower noise pollution.

Tire cords require strength, elasticity, adhesion to rubber, fatigue resistance, dimensional stability and heat resistance. In view of such demanding requirements, conventional recycling systems have been unable to produce suitable polyester fibers.

Teijin Fibers is a long-time manufacturer and retailer of polyester fibers for tires, as well as a company with great expertise in developing products made with recycled polyester. The company developed ECOPET PLUS polyester fiber using advanced recycling technologies that chemically decompose polyester for conversion into raw polyester. The recycled material offers the purity of products derived from petroleum and therefore achieves the demanding performance levels required for tire cords.

In addition, Teijin Fibers' repeatable recycling system reduces energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 80% each when compared to systems that produce polyester material from petroleum.

Details of ECOPET PLUS for tire cords
(1) Fineness: 1,670 decitex (384 filaments)
(2) Production: Polyester raw material is produced with a chemical recycling process and then turned into polyester polymer at Matsuyama Facility. Production for tire cords will be carried out at the Iwakuni Production Facility.
(3) Sales Target: 10 tons/month (approximately 50,000 tires) in 2009, rising to 30 tons/month (approximately 150,000 tires) in 2011.

TEIJIN LIMITED

More TEIJIN LIMITED News... More Textiles News - Japan...