Agenda

The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is no longer a future consideration—it is a present-day mandate that is reshaping global procurement strategies for natural rubber. While the tire industry focuses on traceability to the plot of land, true competitive advantage will lie in moving beyond mere compliance. This presentation will provide a roadmap for tire manufacturers and rubber suppliers to transform the EUDR from a regulatory burden into a catalyst for supply chain resilience. We will analyze the specific challenges of supply chain information and geolocation data collection in smallholder-dominated landscapes. More importantly, this session will explore how the supply chain information infrastructure built for EUDR compliance can be leveraged to verify broader sustainability claims, and strengthen smallholder livelihoods, mitigate future regulatory risks, and build a transparent, stable and value-driven supply chain for the next decade.

Nicolas Tissier | Research Director, Tire Industry Project, World Business Council for Sustainable Development

Henry He | General Manager, Materials Science and Engineering, Smithers

Tyre and Road Wear Particles (TRWP) remain among the most poorly monitored non-exhaust emission sources globally, yet fleet tyre management continues to rely on periodic manual inspection and scheduled replacement cycles that consistently fail to detect the early-stage wear anomalies responsible for disproportionate particulate generation. This monitoring gap is particularly acute for Battery Electric Vehicles, where higher torque loading and regenerative braking patterns accelerate tyre degradation beyond rates typical of conventional drivetrains — a challenge growing in relevance across Southeast Asia's rapidly expanding urban BEV markets. This paper proposes REAL-SENSE TYRE, a tri-modal passive sensing framework designed to deliver continuous tyre wear characterisation and remaining life assessment entirely within the existing vehicle envelope, requiring no tyre modification and no hardware beyond what modern vehicles already carry. Three sensing streams form the operational core. The first, Acoustic Groove Resonance (AGR), uses sound behaviour within tread grooves to estimate tread depth continuously and non-invasively through a single wheel-arch microphone. The second, Infrared Thermal Gradient Mapping (ITGM), reads thermal signatures across the tread face to flag inflation faults, misalignment, and uneven wear onset before visual evidence appears. The third leverages existing on-board Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) data — correlating pressure deviation history and thermal load — to build a cumulative stress index supporting Remaining Useful Life assessment at the individual tyre level. Together, these streams are designed to support wear pattern classification, lifecycle tracking, and emission risk monitoring aligned with Euro 7 and ESPR non-exhaust reporting frameworks. The paper presents the theoretical basis for each sensing modality, identifies specific research gaps addressed, and outlines a structured laboratory-to-fleet validation roadmap.

Given the huge volume of either production or consumption of tires, the tire industry has come to a state that its sustainable development is not avoidable. To achieve sustainability, the industry has put numerous efforts in developing materials that are either derived from recycled goods, or derived from bio-based sources. In our presentation, various options of adopting sustainable materials to reduce carbon footprint of tire were evaluated: recovered carbon black, bio-based filler, and activated rubber powder. The sustainable materials were applied to different tire formulations according to the nature of the materials and their performance. The sustainable percentage and and potential carbon footprint reduction were calculated and compared.  

It  is worth addressing that the feasibility of achieving lower carbon footprint by applying sustainable materials not only depend on the technical performance, but also influenced by economical feasibility and supply security. The challenge of achieving sustainability in tires is associated with all these aspects.
Calvin Xu | General Manager, RCEra

Green tire technology was first introduced in Europe in the 1990s; however, progress toward broader sustainability adoption remained relatively slow in the early years. In recent times, evolving government regulations have significantly reshaped this landscape. As the tire industry increasingly commits to carbon neutrality and zero emission targets, sustainability has become a key strategic focus. In this context, the industry is intensifying efforts to adopt sustainable rubber raw materials, including responsible sourcing of natural rubber, compliance with regulations such as EUDR, development of alternatives to natural rubber, and replacement of conventional silica with rice husk–derived silica (RHS). Similarly, regulatory pressures are driving the search for eco friendly alternatives to conventional compounding ingredients such as 6PPD, DPG, and other environmentally sensitive materials. In this presentation, we focus on modified castor oil–based process aids for silica filled passenger tire tread compounds. The study evaluates their performance in formulations using rice husk silica, along with reduced dosages of ZnO, as part of an integrated approach toward sustainable compounding. The results demonstrate that castor oil–based process aids offer a promising and sustainable alternative to conventional zinc based process aids, while maintaining performance requirements relevant to passenger tire tread applications.
Dr. Abhijeet Anand | Deputy manager, Balkrishna Industries Limited (BKT)

This study addresses the development of low rolling resistance (LRR) light truck tire compounds for electric vehicle (EV) applications using carbon black–rubber coupling agents. Natural rubber (NR)/carbon black (CB) systems, widely used in light truck tires, were evaluated to enhance polymer–filler interactions and reduce hysteresis losses. The effect of coupling agents was examined across different CB grades. Results show reduced rolling resistance indicators while maintaining mechanical properties ,wear resistances and improved energy efficiency for EV light truck tires.

The depletion of fossil resources and the climate change represent two of the greatest challenges nowadays. Increasingly stringent regulations promote the development of alternative and sustainable materials. Several challenges need to be tackled. Beside the price and availability of the alternative materials, their compatibility with other components of a rubber compound and the resulting reduction in in-rubber properties have to be taken into account. It will be presented which substitutions are already possible and where still limitations exist.
Prof. Dr. Anke Blume | Full Professor, Head of research group Elastomer Technology and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering , University of Twente