Tire demand is expected to grow in the future in conjunction with rising automobile and transportation demand. Synthetic rubber is one of the primary materials used when producing tires and is generally produced from petroleum today. Used tires are also utilized as fuel mainly through thermal recovery in Japan and this utilization method emits CO2 consequently.

Through this project, Bridgestone and ENEOS aim to develop a recycling business that will convert used tires to raw materials, enabling a more sustainable society. The joint project will work to develop chemical recycling technologies for used tires by merging the advanced rubber and polymer material design technologies Bridgestone has cultivated through its tire and rubber business with the crude oil refining technologies and foundational basic chemical product manufacturing technologies of ENEOS.

Specifically, the companies will engage in demonstrations for social implementation of chemical recycling technologies for achieving high-yield production of chemical products, such as butadiene, a raw material used in synthetic rubber.*4 These technologies will entail breaking down used tires through precise pyrolysis to produce petrochemical feedstocks (naphtha, etc.) which in turn will be utilized to manufacture petrochemical products. The large-scale demonstrations will be advanced toward 2030 with the goal of achieving mass production and swift commercialization. Bridgestone and ENEOS, as leaders in the tire and rubber industry and the petroleum and petrochemicals industry respectively, are working to enhance increased resource circulation and reduced CO2 emissions across the value chains of their industries toward the future.