Monolith has announced that its carbon black will feature in the new tread formulation of the ElectricDrive GT passenger tire from Goodyear in a size 235/40R19. This is the first time that one of its products has appeared in a tire.
The carbon black used in the Goodyear tire is manufactured at Monolith’s Olive Creek 1 facility in Hallam, Nebraska, USA. Monolith claims that the commercial-scale facility is the first of its kind in the world and is designed to produce up to 14,000 metric tons of carbon black annually while producing almost no emissions during operation. Furthermore, the tires that feature the Monolith carbon black have passed Department of Transportation tests to evaluate their safety and performance characteristics.
“Our mission is to work with innovative partners to transform existing trusted products into more sustainable versions, reduce carbon footprints and improve sustainable outcomes,” explained Rob Hanson, co-founder and CEO of Monolith. “Our delivery of a more sustainably made carbon black to Goodyear is a significant milestone in our company journey, and one we are proud to celebrate alongside an industry leader like Goodyear.”
Chris Helsel, senior vice president of global operations, and chief technology officer at Goodyear, added, “At Goodyear, we are continually looking at and working with our supply base to understand and discover new innovations and technologies to use in our products. The use of carbon black produced by methane pyrolysis is an example of how we are collaborating with our suppliers, like Monolith, to utilize sustainable materials in our consumer products, without compromising on performance and safety.”
Traditionally, carbon black is produced by burning decant oil or coal tar, which creates a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions. However, Monolith’s methane pyrolysis process utilizes clean electricity to convert natural gas into carbon black and hydrogen, and creates almost zero emissions in the process.
