South Korea commercializes first chemically recycled PET tire

To reduce carbon emissions, the South Korean industrial sector has developed and commercialized the country's first tire using chemically recycled PET.

SK chemicals (CEO Ahn Jae-hyun), Hyosung Advanced Materials Co., Ltd. (CEO Cho Yong-soo), and Hankook Tire & Technology Co., Ltd. (CEO Lee Soo-il, hereafter Hankook Tire) have successfully developed the electric vehicle-exclusive tire "iON" applying "circular recycled PET (polyester) fiber tire cords."

Circular recycling is an exclusive chemical recycling technology of SK chemicals that breaks down discarded plastics through chemical reactions into molecular units and then uses these raw materials to produce recycled plastics.

Before the commercialization phase, there were instances where chemical recycling technology was applied to concept tires or prototypes, but the release of a tire product to the market using chemically recycled PET-based tire cords through to commercialization is a first in South Korea.

SK chemicals, Hyosung Advanced Materials, and Hankook Tire have collaboratively

The tire was developed over a period of about two years. SK chemicals supplied the circular recycled PET "SKYPET CR", and Hyosung Advanced Materials developed the high-strength recycled PET-based tire cords using this as a raw material. The tire cords were applied to Hankook Tire's premium electric vehicle tire brand, iON.

The iON tire, with a 45% sustainable material content, has recently passed the stringent reliability verification by a European automotive manufacturer, securing final approval for use and being mounted as tires for new vehicles.

Tire cords are fiber reinforcement materials that help maintain the shape of the tire and withstand the load and impact applied during driving, enhancing the tire's durability, driving performance, and ride comfort.

SK chemicals' "SKYPET CR" has the advantage of maintaining high-quality properties and safety even after infinite recycling, compared to the physical recycling method of washing discarded plastics or cutting them into flakes for reuse, and it can achieve properties equivalent to petrochemical-based materials.

The iON model developed by Hankook Tire incorporates 45% sustainable materials, including bio-based, circular, and bio-circular polymers, bio-based silica along with Hyosung Advanced Materials' tire cords, and the model is the first tire to bear the ISCC PLUS certification logo.