2024-01-25 18:13:48
Sumitomo Riko, Sumitomo Rubber and Sumitomo Electric team up with American carbon recycling company LanzaTech to accelerate TOWANOWA circular economy concept
Sumitomo Rubber is pleased to announce that, together with Sumitomo Electric, it will participate in this joint development. The three companies will join forces with LanzaTech with the aim of exploring innovative technologies that enable a circular economy by transforming discarded materials, including rubber, resin, urethane and metal, into valuable resources in the project titled TOWANOWA.
Sumitomo Riko has had a joint development agreement with LanzaTech Global since 2022, a North American carbon recycling company known for its expertise in carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technology.
Sumitomo Rubber Industries has formed a collaboration with Sumitomo Riko Company Limited and Sumitomo Electric Industries to promote the development of recycling technologies, paving the way for a circular economy.
Strategic partnership is focused on developing waste recycling solutions
The process will accelerate efforts to create a sustainable society characterized by carbon neutrality and a circular economy — the company’s unique “TOWANOWA” circular economy concept.”
Under the “TOWANOWA” circular economy concept, it aims to recycle and efficiently utilize finite resources while capitalizing on the vast pool of data to introduce innovative and value-added solutions to customers. The objective is to promote a sustainable society, which guarantees safety, tranquility and comfort.
This time, Sumitomo Rubber Industries takes another step towards achieving a circular economy for raw materials. In partnership with Sumitomo Riko and Sumitomo Electric, it will continue to develop new technologies in collaboration with LanzaTech.
The company aims to leverage biorecycling technology to transform discarded materials such as tires into isoprene, which can be used as new rubber materials. This will be achieved through gasification of discarded materials and purification of the resulting gas, followed by a fermentation process that transforms the gas into new raw materials. The ultimate goal, in collaboration with raw material manufacturers, is to explore the feasibility of establishing a recycling technology that allows the reuse of isoprene as materials for rubber and resin, considering the idea of recycling the metals recovered during the gasification process and reuse them as raw materials.
The Sumitomo Rubber Group manufactures and sells a wide selection of tires globally. As new tires are manufactured and sold, a significant number of tires are discarded every year. Many waste materials in Japan are subsequently incinerated, with the heat generated used for practical purposes. To bring the “TOWANOWA” circular economy concept to life, it is crucial to advance “Recovery and Recycling” initiatives in our tire business and create a system that transforms discarded tires into useful resources. This collaboration is an integral part of the Group’s research and development in recycling technology.
TOWANOWA includes recycling and reuse
While individual businesses can contribute to building a sustainable society, achieving this goal on your own is a challenging task. Success requires promoting collaboration across diverse sectors, involving stakeholders from academia, industry and government. In the future, the company intends to intensify efforts in each process of the “TOWANOWA” circular business concept and use data to increase efficiency in internal development. Through engagement with diverse external stakeholders, Sumitomo Rubber seeks to share cutting-edge information and technology, thereby solving social issues and creating a sustainable society.
About Dunlop
Dunlop, which is a brand of the Sumitomo Rubber Industries group and is currently among the five largest tire manufacturers in the world, according to the 2022 “Leading tire manufacturers” ranking, has its global headquarters in Japan, where it has a modern manufacturing center R&D and three proving grounds.
Dunlop tires are produced in twelve factories and are present in more than 100 countries, including the United States, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Turkey and Europe. The Dunlop factory in Brazil, which also produces Falken and Sumitomo tires, is the most modern tire manufacturing unit in the country, being the only one to produce tires with TAIYO (Sun) System technology, Seamless Tire Manufacturing System on the rubber parts, ensuring greater precision and safety.
Located in Fazenda Rio Grande, metropolitan region of Curitiba, it has received more than R$1.6 billion in investments since its inauguration in October 2013 and its expansions, announcing new investments in the order of R$1 billion in 2021.
The company sells tires for passenger vehicles, vans, SUVs and trucks. Visit and follow on social media:
Dunlop Brasil: www.dunloppneus.com.br, facebook.com/dunlopbrasil, instagram.com/dunloppneusbrasil/
Falken Brazil: www.falkenpneus.com/, instagram.com/falkenbrasil/
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