UPM Biochemicals
 

Functional fillers have been used by the tire industry for more than 100 years to improve performance properties like durability, driving efficiency and safety. The different filler materials represent approximately 30% of a typical tire by weight – whether it is a passenger car, truck or bus or whether the vehicle is driven by internal combustion engine or electric battery.

UPM BioMotionTM RFF enables tire manufacturers to meet current and future market demands in terms of sustainability while providing additional performance benefits like reduced air permeability, lower rolling resistance and faster biodegradation of rubber wear.

The first tires leveraging the unique performance benefits of UPM BioMotionTM RFF have been successfully developed by our partners. For example, in Nokian Tyres’ Green Step Ligna concept tire, which was recently presented at the German rubber industry conference DKT 2024 in Nürnberg, all fossil carbon black in the tire’s sidewall was fully replaced by UPM BioMotionTM RFF. In this way, the amount of renewable and recycled content in the tire sidewall rubber compound could be increased to 60% by weight in total.

See also

UPM BioMotion™ RFF for sustainable air-barrier performance in tire inner liners

The inner liner is critical for maintaining tire pressure and driving performance. With UPM BioMotion™ RFF, we're offering the tyre industry a sustainable alternative that improves air barrier function at lower rubber density, enables defossilization, and lowers your product's carbon footprint.

 

Key features:

  • Reduced air permeability enables maintaining proper inflation, which is critical for fuel efficiency, safety, and handling.
  • Reduced compound hysteresis compared to fossil reference enables lower rolling resistance.
  • Light-weight, low-density material (1.3 g/cm³) contributes to weight reduction.
  • Increased renewable material share in rubber compounds by replacing fossil-based with 100% bio-based carbon materials.
  • Reduced rubber compound carbon footprint from cradle-to-gate

UPM BioMotion™ RFF for sustainable tire sidewalls with improved performance

Nokian Tyres’ Green Step Ligna concept tire became the world’s first to incorporate UPM BioMotion™ RFF. All fossil carbon black in the tire’s sidewall was successfully replaced by UPM BioMotion™ RFF. The Green Step Ligna concept tyre demonstrates the usability of UPM BioMotion™ RFF at industrial scale. The impact is not limited to replacing fossil raw materials like carbon black, but also has the potential to improve tyre properties, such as reducing rolling resistance.

 

UPM BioMotion™ RFF accounts for more than 1/3 of all renewable and recycled materials applied in the sidewall compound. In total, a GHG emission (kgCO2e/kg compound) reduction of 43% compared to the existing reference was calculated by Nokian Tyres for the sidewall compound when using data from suppliers or the Sphera data base.

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