KUALA LUMPUR: Michelin has found a way to make a tyre with high sustainable content that still delivers superior on-track performance
A racing tyre containing 46 per cent sustainable materials, fitted onto the GreenGT Mission H24 hydrogen-powered prototype developed for endurance racing, was unveiled at the 2021 Movin'On Summit.
The high percentage was achieved by increasing the tyre's natural rubber content and using recycled carbon black recovered from end-of-life tyres.
Other bio-sourced or recycled sustainable materials used in the tyre included everyday items such as orange and lemon rind, sunflower oil, pine resin and recycled steel from aluminum cans.
"We share a core value with Movin'On and its partners, namely the deep belief that mobility, and movement in the broadest sense of the term, are inherent to life and a source of progress," says Michelin managing chairman Florent Menegaux.
During the summit, Michelin also introduced the Wing Sail Mobility (Wisamo) project aimed to help decarbonise maritime shipping. It is an automated, telescopic, inflatable wing sail system that can be fitted on both merchant ships and pleasure craft.
The inflatable wing sail harnesses the wind as a source of propulsion, thus reducing its fuel consumption and thereby have a positive impact on the environment by lowering CO2 emissions.
Usable on every maritime shipping route, the wing's range of use is one of the market's broadest, with proven effectiveness on many points of sail especially when close-hauled (windward). The telescopic mast is retractable, making it easy for a ship to enter harbors and pass under bridges. In all, the system is said to be able to improve a ship's fuel efficiency by up to 20 per cent.
Wisamo is a collaboration effort with world-renowned skipper and ambassador of the project Michel Desjoyaux, who points out, "the advantage of wind propulsion is that wind energy is clean, free, universal and totally non-controversial. It offers a very promising avenue to improving the environmental impact of merchant ships."
The system will first be fitted on a merchant ship in 2022, when Michelin expects it to go into production following completion of the trial phase.
"The two innovative solutions we are presenting at this year's global sustainable mobility summit offer tangible, real-world proof of our determination to make mobility increasingly sustainable," said Menegaux.
Earlier this year, Michelin announced its commitment to using 100 per cent sustainable materials in all its tyres by 2050. This commitment the company says will reach its initial milestone in 2030, with a group-wide target of having 40 per cent sustainable materials in its tyres.
Alongside its commitment to integrating sustainable materials into its tyres is the use of eco-design processes to attenuate its tyres' environmental impact at every stage in their lifecycle - from raw materials sourcing and production to road use and recycling.