Scientists have come up with a new technology with which the tyres can be manufactured using natural resources like grass and trees.
The tyres that run the auto industry today are made up of a non-biodegradable chemical polymer named as isoprene and they are environment polluting as well because they are derived from fossil fuels. It is claimed by the scientists that the tyres manufactured from grass and trees will have the same performance, shape and look. The reason is that it will be based on the same polymer of isoprene that will be extracted from a different source.
The polymer at present is made by the method of 'cracking' in which the molecule of petroleum is broken down into a smaller chain of hydrocarbon that is similar to the compound of gasoline. The polymer is separated out of all the by-products of the reaction by numerous purification procedures and then it is let to react with itself and form long and stiff chains of isoprene that constitutes major proportion in the tyre. If the technology goes on sale, it is expected to hit the billion dollars industry of tyre manufacturing adversely.
Considering the fact that sugars are long chains of hydrocarbons, scientists are trying to derive it from the biomass and make more of eco-friendly substitutes available to the commons. For this, researchers at the University of Minnesota are working simultaneously on the development of the chemical process that combines the boosting of natural microbial fermentation with catalytic refining.
First, the microbial fermentation of glucose present in the plants gives itaconic acid which is then mixed with hydrogen, causing a chemical reaction that results in methyl-THF. Then a recently discovered catalyst called Phosphorous Self-Pillared Pentasil is put to dehydrate the methyl-THF into isoprene. This method resulted in 90% catalytic efficiency and the making up of isoprene which will be renewable, thus making the manufacturing of tyres less expensive.
