A new sustainable material developed by Century Enka will be utilized by Apollo Tyres for selected ranges in various segments. In what it states is a first, Century Enka has launched commercial production of NTCF (nylon tire cord fabric) made from 100% recycled nylon waste.
NTCF was unveiled in November 2022 at the Century Enka Bharuch plant in Gujarat, India, when the first consignment of commercial supplies was dispatched to Apollo. The two companies worked jointly on this project for over a year.
Century Enka is the largest consumer of caprolactam in India, and generates in-process waste during manufacturing of polyamide yarn. This waste is then recycled back to caprolactam, which, after extensive distillation, is made suitable for production of NTCF.
“We decided to use our in-house waste for caprolactam and, with our technology from Akzo, some could be converted back to Caprolactam,” said Suresh Sodani, managing director of Century Enka. “The idea was to conserve crude oil, a finite natural resource, for making virgin caprolactam and avoid misuse of polyamide waste – which is highly detrimental to the environment. I am proud of our teams for this remarkable achievement.”
Sustainable fabric from Century Enka is subject to rigorous quality assessments and is GRS certified.
