LCA course project:

Tire Life Cycle Assessment

Supervised by: Dr. Niandou El Bachir Seydou

Project done by:

Mohammed Yassine Labib

&
Hamza Benaazouz

Spring 2015
Abstract:

Approximately. 6 billion car tires are now in use in the globe. Every year approximately.
800,000 tons of used tires are removed and recycled by an equivalent quantity of new or renewed
tires[1]. Throughout its service life, from the attainment of the raw materials through to the
recycling of the used tire, the tire continually impacts with the environment. Methods to effectively
reducing the undesirable environmental impact can be demonstrated only on the foundation of
detailed knowledge of this impact. However, me and my teammate Hamza Benaazouz we tried to
understand this interaction through research, watching documentaries related to tire production
and recycling. By establishing this what we learned in the LCA course, a life cycle assessment
analysis will help us quantifies the energy and material turnover in the diverse stages of a tires
life by doing a life cycle inventory analysis and also by doing an impact assessment which will
enclose the interaction of tire with the environment. Finally, we will end-up by interpreting the
results of the study as we planned.

Figure 1: Our analysis plan.

Introduction:

The goals of the present life cycle assessment are the following: Presentation of the energy and
material courses in the various periods of a tires life, then we will quantify and evaluate emissions
and waste that may have an impact on the environment. After, comes the step of Identification of
the main impact on the environment during the life of a tire to reduce the magnitude of the potential
environmental intrusions impact. Development of a tool for evaluating the resource requirement
and the environmental influence and impact by alternative tire types.

The general context of analysis includes all the inputs and outputs of the various phases in the life
of a tire, as shown below in the diagram.
Figure 2: Context of the LC ASSESSMENT of tire
Where:

* The energy input is included in the context of the LC assessment.

** In the case of recycled worn tires, the requisite energy input and likely raw material
requirement have likewise been taken into consideration

Literature review:

Before performing a tire life cycle analysis, it is necessary to understand previous Life
Cycle Assessments performed in the similar area. Many articles have been published on the same
subject which is life cycle analysis for approximately the past 10 years while this green part of
research has developed, precisely in the Journal of LCA, that not only give awareness into
environmental impacts of tires and rubber products in general, but also help to comprehend the
development of life cycle assessment overall. Guine, et al, define the twelve progression of LCA
done in the past 15 years starting from a time when the major data source did not list CO2 as a
pollutant and global warming as an impact. [2,3].
Due to this fast growth in environmental analysis procedures, it is very crucial to use recent
data and impact classification tools in order to create a life cycle assessment valid for nowadays.
The current LCA rules that will aid guarantee this excellence of quality are described in the ISO
1404 0ff series.[4, 5, 6] These ISO standardizations lay out the important life cycle analysis
procedure, but do not give exact advice about detailed ways to apply the basic rules. For this
reason, life cycle analysis is a subjective tool that can yield quite different results as we learned in
class. For example, Pears when investigating at cement industrial plants, concluded a wide
variation in greenhouse output, energy efficiency and other environmental impacts due to the
approaches and techniques he chose to not only gather the data but also to evaluate the
environmental impact of that data. So the plants LCA was subjective, the needed energy varied
between 3.3 and 8 Gega-Joules per ton of cement produced. This difference was then complex
when other impact assessment techniques were chosen that evaluated natural resource depletion
and global warming potential differently.[7] Therefore, due to the variation field of life cycle
analysis and the fairly unclear rules that allow different assessments of environmental impacts, an
inclusive analysis that attempts to wave some of these questions by proposing multiple impact
assessment methods is necessary for a comprehensive environmental analysis of any product.
 However in the tire industry, tire manufacturers and suppliers of raw materials are
continuously faced to improve economically and environmentally sustainable and green-friendly
products, and many research has already been done attempting to reduce the overall environmental
impact of this field of industry by obeying to the ISO standards of life cycle assessment. Nowadays,
tire manufacturers are faced with an important problem when environmental aspects are
considered, so considering the cons and pros of each in a reliable manner has drawn much
consideration. On one hand, the tire manufacturing industry is advised to produce tires with
progressively improved quality performances like: dry and wet traction for safety reasons, rolling
resistance for fuel economy, and wear resistance for durability. On the other hand, this industry is
willing to improve tires with a least impact on the environment. More importantly, these two
production concerns are mutually exclusive. An increase in traction or comfort frequently results
in bigger environmental impacts. By using LCA methods, the tire industry is tracking all
environmental aspects in the interaction of a tire with the environment during its lifetime. This
inclusive approach is considering the additional influences of raw materials, as extraction of
mineral and fossil materials, manufacturing of additives such as curing package, fillers, and
silanes, the tire making in plants, and the tire usage on the road till the end of its life so that reliable
conclusions can be made about product enhancements that have different environmental impacts.
As concluded by the ETRMA European Tire and Rubber Manufacturers Association, the main
environmental impact throughout a car life cycle comprises in the tire use phase with CO2
emission related to the fuel consumption of the car, and linked to the rolling resistance.[8] This
conclusion was token based on numerous other sources including a brief summary done by
Continental a big and advanced producer and researched in the tire manufacturing, in which a
detailed report from audit-firms and consultants accredited Life Cycle Assessment of an Average
European Car Tire.[8, 9] As illustsrated in Table 1 from Continentals analysis, as stated by their
consultants it is clear to see that the usage phase of a tires life cycle is the greatest environment
harmful. This environmental impact results from the rolling resistance, and is the focus of most of
todays tire manufacturers.[10] According to these analyses, minimizing the rolling resistance by
a small fraction will have a noticeable impact on the general environmental performance of the
tire.
 Table 1. Continentals Life Cycle Energy Balance of Petroleum in (L) [10]

Objective:
1. Presentation of the material, energy streams in the different phases of a tire's
life
2. Measurement and assessment of waste that could have an effect on the
environment.
3. Recognizable proof of the fundamental effect on nature amid the life of a tire
as beginning stage for a focused on furthermore, proficient diminishment in
the greatness of the potential ecological effect.
4. Improvement for assessing the asset prerequisite furthermore, the ecological
effect of option tire sorts (elective crude materials and materials)

Methodology:

A. Life cycle inventory analysis:

1. Manufacturing of tires:
Pneumatic tires are manufactured according to relatively standardized processes and
machinery, in around 455 tire factories in the world. With over 1 billion tires manufactured
worldwide annually, the tire industry is the major consumer of natural rubber. Tire factories start
with bulk raw materials such as rubber, carbon black, and chemicals and produce numerous
specialized components that are assembled and cured. This article describes the components
assembled to make a tire, the various materials used, the manufacturing processes and machinery,
and the overall business model.
 The tire construction process is a complicated one that involves several complex parts that
are mated together. The general process of constructing a tire involves assembling the numerous
components of a tire shown in Figure 3, and then vulcanizing these parts together to achieve the
desired properties.

Figure 3: Components used in tire assembly.

a. The inner liner:

The inner liner is an extruded halo-butyl rubber sheet compounded with additives that result
in low air permeability. The inner liner assures that the tire will hold high-pressure air inside, without
the air gradually diffusing through the rubber structure.

b. The body ply:

The body ply is a calendared sheet consisting of one layer of rubber, one layer of reinforcing
fabric, and a second layer of rubber. The earliest textile used was cotton; later materials
include rayon, nylon, polyester, and Kevlar. Passenger tires typically have one or two body plies.
Body plies give the tire structure strength. Truck tires, off-road tires, and aircraft tires have
progressively more plies. The fabric cords are highly flexible but relatively inelastic.

c. Sidewall:

Sidewalls are non-reinforced extruded profiles with additives to give the sides of the tire good
abrasion resistance and environmental resistance. Additives used in sidewall compounds
include antioxidants and anti-ozonants. Sidewall extrusions are nonsymmetrical and provide a thick
rubber area to enable molding of raised letters.

d. Bead
 Beads are bands of high tensile-strength steel wire encased in a rubber compound. Bead
wire is coated with special alloys of bronze or brass. Coatings protect the steel from corrosion.
Copper in the alloy and sulfur in the rubber cross-link to produce copper sulfide, which improves
bonding of the bead to the rubber. Beads are inflexible and inelastic, and provide the mechanical
strength to fit the tire to the wheel. Bead rubber includes additives to maximize strength and
toughness.

However, tire construction methods vary somewhat in the number and type of components,
as well as the compound formulations for each component, according to the tire use and price point.
Tire makers continuously introduce new materials and construction methods in order to achieve
higher performance at lower cost.

Energy Used for heating and pressuring:

In both of all manufacturing processes, the most important factor that affects the environmental
impact of these processes is the energy required to heat and pressurize the ovens and molds used
to cure rubber and solidify polyurethane. As stated in the introduction of this project, the energy
produced in most of the countries comes from a mix of coal, natural gas, nuclear power, etc. The
details of this mix vary across the world, In our project we tried to group data from different
databases of records of these inputs and emissions for every country.

However, their databases have not been updated in the past 5 years, while the United States
Energy Information Administration (EIA) updates the United States energy mix numbers every
year. [11] The energy mix from both sources is displayed in Table 2.

Table 2. United states DoE EIA energy mix, 2008 [11]

This table vary somewhat in that the U.S. has tried in the course of the last 20 a long time
to decrease the vitality reliance on unrefined petroleum while expanding the vitality got from
atomic force. The IDEMAT database is illustrative of information from around the year 2001, and
in the time from that point forward the U.S. has gained more ground in decreasing the rate of
unrefined petroleum used to make vitality. As per these two tables, the rate of vitality from
unrefined petroleum dropped from 22% to 15% in these 7 years, which nearly coordinates the
EIA's numbers which demonstrate a decline from 20% to 15% from 2001 to 2008. [11]
These distinctions are sufficiently substantial to consider the IDEMAT database outdated for this
continually changing vitality blend, so the American vitality information utilized all through this
report will be illustrative of the EIA's numbers demonstrated in Table 2. A correlation of the effect
of these distinctions in vitality rates will be exhibited in the effect evaluation technique (area 5) to
look at the potential ecological effects of different periods of each item's life cycle if either vitality
blend source is utilized. The vitality inputs for elastic curing broilers have been recorded and
examined by tire makers, and the normal tire curing procedure requires around 1.1 kWh of vitality
for a tire measuring 10 kg, which implies about 0.11 kWh of vitality is expected to vulcanize 1 kg
of rubber.[12]

Tire distribution:

The transportation was overlooked in the creation of a tire because of its intricacy and negligible
effect as depicted in the PR Experts report, however it is vital to break down the obliged fuel
expensed in disseminating the last items to auto dealerships and repair shops. The dispersion of
tires from the creation site to the retail point has been recorded by Franklin USA, and it
incorporates a blend of 28 and 16 ton trucks, conveyance vans, and ships.[13] This database
itemizing the normal natural effect to transport 1 ton of material more than 1 km in the United
States is consolidated with an examination by Continental Tire North America which decided the
normal separation one tire must travel from its generation site to its retail point.[14]

Tire End of Life:

a. Processing Routes

Amid the previous couple of years there has been considerable advance in the
reusing of polymeric materials. Shockingly, advance in the range of reusing
thermosetting polymers for example, rubbers has not been as effective on the
grounds that these materials, by definition, can't be improved once they have been
"set" or cross-linked.

b. Tire recycling:
 Likewise with all other potential tire end of life situations, its reusing starts with differentiating
the three primary parts: center point, polyurethane spokes and shear band, and elastic tread. This
can either be finished by generally removing the polyurethane from the center and the elastic tread
leaving a little measure of polyurethane still appended to both, or they can all be differentiated by
warming the whole gathering to a temperature of around 150 C for 2 or 3 hours to permit the
cements to separate and the polyurethane to unwind and psychologist far from the center point
furthermore, tread. Clearly the second technique is more vitality escalated, however brings about
clean detachment of every part without the need to utilize hurtful cleaners to evacuate the
abundance of the harmful raw material. From the steel and elastic that was not ready to be cut off.
Due to this clean, simple partition. Furthermore, the vulnerability of the routines important to
totally clean the abundance material that could not be removed, the warming system for division
will be favored by Michelin and will be the just technique considered in this investigation. The
vitality needed to keep up a stove at this temperature for 2 to 3 hours is reported in the Franklin
USA database for a general broiler, and since the size and qualities of the broiler required for this
part detachment is not known, this database is the main alternative accessible. This broiler stock
will be added to every transfer course as an essential for preparing. Once the three parts have been
differentiated, each can be considered to take after their own transfer courses.

Rubber derived fuel:

Tires contain more than 90% natural materials and have a higher warmth esteem than coal, so

a broadly utilized alternative to process tossed tires is to utilize them as fuel.[33] The business
sector is by and large called the tire determined fuel (TDF) market, but since both the transforming
of tires and shear groups will be examined in this report, that term will be summed up to elastic
determined fuel. Natural impacts of elastic ignition can be assembled into uncontrolled and
controlled sources. Uncontrolled sources are open tire fires which won't be considered in this
investigation, while controlled burning sources incorporate boilers and ovens particularly intended
for the productive ignition of strong fuel. These controlled environments not just create vitality in
the spot of customary coal or oil plants, however they are likewise ready to control the amount of
air emanations. As indicated in Table 3.
 Table 3. derived fuel of Tire per disposal route (in M of tires) [14]

Impact Assessment:

Impact Assessment Method:

An impact assessment method for tires will introduce the general natural effect of an item
or procedure for helpful correlation against different effects, yet it can bring about a negative
natural effect score, or an ecological advantage. At the point when a tree expends CO2 from the
climate, for instance, a negative environmental change or an Earth-wide temperature boost score
will emerge in light of the fact that of the advantage to this class rather than the negative effect
that the evaluation techniques are intended to look at. A few methods will contain both
classifications that have a general advantage to the earth (negative score) and effect classes with a
negative ecological effect (positive score). In the charts underneath that depict the general effect
of each life cycle stage, the natural heap of every effect class recorded in Table 4 is shown to offer
assistance figure out which class contributes the most to the natural effect. Along these lines, rather
than specifically subtracting the negative scores from the positive scores to issue one general
appraisal of every stage, one section (or natural effect score) may display both a positive and a
negative part from distinctive classifications. As illustrated in the table 4 bellow:
 Table 4. EDIP impact categories

Overall Production Impact

Consolidating the creation of all the obliged crude materials and the assembling stock gives the
general generation natural effect represented anytime recently. As discussed before, the aggregate
effect of the crude materials for every item is gathered by essentially including the weighted effects
of the amount of every material used to make a tire as portrayed in Figure 5. The expansion of the
effect of the assembling process on top of that gives the general generation effect marked "Tire
creation" in Figure 5:

Figure 5. Overall tire production impact (10 kg tire).

End of life:

Since the polyurethane can be divided from the elastic tread in the end of its life, this investigation
will accept its materials that will be discarded independently, which streamlines the ecological
appraisal to a mix of elastic (entire tire).

Discussion and Summary

Life Cycle Analysis:

By consolidating the greater part of the stages depicted above from "support to grave," a
photo of the ecological impacts of the whole life cycle can be amassed. This life cycle investigation
presents the ecological effect of one tire past essentially the vitality needed to produce either, for
instance. Figures bellow depict the relative ecological impacts of every phase of a P205/45R17
tire's life cycle.

Figure 4. P205/45R17 Tire Life Cycle Analysis (10 kg tire)

 Table 5. Supplemental data for Figure 4.

The main correlation that condenses the majority of the points of interest of the life cycle
of both items is that the fuel devoured by moving resistance is by a wide margin the most
ecologically hurtful segment of a wheel's life cycle. The general impacts of delivering the essential
measure of gas and afterward blazing it to succeed moving resistance for 42,000 miles is 5 or 6
times that of the following most unsafe stage, the creation stage, as per both effect appraisal
routines.

Conclusion:

Despite the fact that this is a complete examination of each phase of the life cycle of both
a tire Furthermore, a tire it is just illustrative of the present learning accessible and accordingly
requires more work later on to redesign the LCA. The tire configuration may change in the
following few a long time before it is mass delivered and discharged available to be purchased to
the general population, so it will be important to overhaul this examination with any progressions
to the generation methodology or the utilization stage qualities. The assembling profile most likely
won't change much, however two noteworthy studies need to be performed to guarantee the
utilization stage effect is precise. In the examination exhibited in this proposition, two
presumptions were made that could influence the natural effect of the tire utilization stage if more
information is gathered: (1) the moving resistance coefficient does not corrupt over the life of a
tire and (2) a tire will keep going the length of a traditional tire (42,000).
References:

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