Could Trees Be the New Rubber?
August 5th, 2009 by Ruedigar Matthes
You’re waiting at a red light, your engine idling lightly. You check the crosswalk signal: 20 seconds, you have some time. You turn your classical music up a notch to the perfect volume and you close your eyes, relaxing on your way home from work. But your moment of relaxation is interrupted by the thump thump of bass coming from the car next to you. You look over at the car, the tinted windows keep you from seeing the driver. But the car’s engine revs. The light changes green and, as you lightly press the gas, the car next to you squeals past you, burning rubber.
Now, there is a lot of that situation that you would probably change. But I wonder if rubber made it high on your list. Well, it’s high on the list of researchers at Oregon State University. Their idea is not to do away with rubber altogether, but they are looking at the possibility of using trees in the tire-making process, which means that you and I could drive around on tires made partially out of trees some day.
Wood science researchers at Oregon State University have made some surprising findings about the potential of microcrystalline cellulose – a product made easily from almost any type of plant fibers – to partially replace silica as a reinforcing filler in the manufacture of rubber tires.
“We were surprised at how favorable the results were for the use of this material,” said Kaichang Li, an associate professor of wood science and engineering in the OSU College of Forestry, who conducted this research with graduate student Wen Bai. The researchers found that using trees might decrease the energy required to produce tires, reduce costs, and better resist heat buildup. And preliminary findings show that tree-tires would have comparable traction on cold or wet pavement, be just as strong, and provide even higher fuel efficiency than traditional tires in hot weather.
“This could lead to a new generation of automotive tire technology, one of the first fundamental changes to come around in a long time,” Li said.
Cellulose fiber has been used for a while in reinforcing some types of rubber and automotive products, such as belts, hoses and insulation; but as yet has never been used in tires, where carbon black and silica are the preferred reinforcements. But Carbon black is made from increasingly expensive oil (which isn’t exactly light on the wallet or the environment), and the processing of silica is energy-intensive. In addition, both products are very dense and reduce the fuel efficiency of automobiles.
Due to the disadvantages of the currently used fillers, researchers at Oregon State turned to microcrystalline cellulose, a micrometer-sized type of crystalline cellulose with an extremely well-organized structure. The process used in producing microcrystalline cellulose is inexpensive and uses nature’s most abundant natural polymer, cellulose, which comprises about 40-50 percent of wood.
In the OSU study up to about 12 percent of the silica was raplaced with microcrystalline cellulose. This substitution decreased the amount of energy needed to produce the rubber composite, improved the heat resistance of the product, and retained tensile strength.
So far so good it seems. But what about traction? Every tire commercial out there emphasises the great traction, the control. The study showed that the traction of the new product was comparable to existing rubber tire technology in a wet, rainy environment. And even better yet, the substitution decreased rolling resistance in hot environments, which increased fuel efficiency.
While further testing must be done, especially to test the longevity of the tires, Li says that further development by tire manufacturers could be taken up at any time.
Photo Credit: Oregon State University
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About the Author
Ruedigar Matthes I'm a 22 year old student of English and Environmental Studies at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. Born and raised in Salt Lake City, I've grown up loving the red rock of southern Utah as well as the pristine mountains of the northern fronts. Besides saving the planet one blog post at a time, I enjoy soccer, the natural world, reading and writing.
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