Soybean oil under evaluation by Goodyear

qiangzi

Goodyear has released a development that could be beneficial to consumers and to the environment. Researchers at the company’s Innovation Center in Ohio, USA have discovered that using soybean oil in tires can potentially increase tread life by 10% and also reduce the use of petroleum-based oil in tire making by up to 32 million liters per year.
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Additionally, testing at Goodyear’s tire plant in Oklahoma, USA has shown that soybean oil offers improved mixing capabilities in the manufacturing process, rubber compounds made with soybean oil blend more easily with the silica used in building tires. If further testing remains positive, Goodyear predicts that tires made with soybean oil will be available for purchase in as early as 2015.
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The United Soybean Board is helping fund the Goodyear project with a two year grant of US$500,000.

- `% f' B/ U' ^, w8 N* pJean-Claude Kihn, Goodyear’s chief technical officer said, “Goodyear is committed to caring for the environment and communities, and use of soybean oil is proving to be another way to accomplish this goal. Consumers benefit through improved tread life, Goodyear gains with increased efficiency and energy savings and we all win whenever there is a positive impact on the environment.”