Page 60 - The Tyreman V45 2014-3
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Continental Dandelion Rubber Wins GreenTec Award
Continental and the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME) at the University of Münster were hon- oured with the GreenTec Award 2014 for their co- development project ‘RUBIN – Industrial Emergence of Natural Rubber from Dandelion’.
A 60-member jury panel consisting of experts from industry, academia, trade associations, and the media considered this project to be an outstanding example of commitment to the environment and pio- neering environmental technology in the category ‘Automobility’.
The award ceremony was held on May 4th in Munich at the start of IFAT, the world’s leading trade fair for environmental technology. The GreenTec Awards, of which there are 14 different categories, are Europe’s biggest environmental and business awards and
"We are very pleased to receive this award for our dandelion rubber project. Continental is pushing a very promising technology whose full potential will fully unfold in the next few years. In view of increas- ing levels of motorisation in growth markets such as Asia, we expect a major increase in demand for nat- ural rubber in the future. We are convinced that the use of rubber from dandelion root will make our tyre - able," said Nikolai Setzer, Member of the Executive Board of Continental and Head of Tyre Division.
Continental and IME are currently working on the in- dustrial use of Russian dandelion, which is said to be very rubber-rich and does not need a tropical climate in contrast to regular rubber trees. This undemand- ing plant can be cultivated in a number of temperate regions on what is known as ‘marginal land’ that was previously unusable in terms of agriculture.
"Dandelion rubber will shorten transport routes to our production sites and enable the growing global precious areas of rainforest. Both these factors will have a sustainably positive effect on the world’s car- bon footprint and on bio-diversity," added Dr Andreas Topp, Vice President Material and Process Develop- ment and Industrialisation Tyres at Continental
Dr Carla Recker, Project Manager of the Continental Tyre Division, received the award together with Pro- fessor Dirk Prüfer of the Fraunhofer IME in Munich in front of 1000 guests from the worlds of business, sport and entertainment.
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Project Manager Dr Carla Recker (Continental) and Professor Dirk Prüfer (Fraunhofer project, which enables rubber obtained from the dandelion plant to be used for tyre production.
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