"Yokohama Using Oil From Orange Rinds in Some of Its Ultra-High-Performance Tires" Green Car Advisor

Yokohama Using Oil From Orange Rinds in Some of Its Ultra-High-Performance Tires

We've already told you about Lotus using hemp and sisal in its Eco Elise and Ford using oil from soybeans in newer Mustangs, Expeditions and F-150 pickup trucks.

Now we're pleased to report that Yokohama Tire Corp. is using oil extracted from orange rinds in its ADVAN brand of ultra-high-performance street and racing tires.

The tires, which are produced using roughly 20 percent less synthetic rubber, will be used by all teams in the 2009 Patron GT3 Challenge six-race series that features Porsche 911 GT3 Cup racecars.

Yokohama has developed a process that combines orange oil with natural rubber to form a new compound the tire company calls Super Nano-Power RubberT. The proprietary technology reduces the amount of petroleum used in tires without, Yokohama claims, compromising the performance characteristics of conventional race tires.

Yokohama's Motorsports division began researching this technology in the late 1980s. Development was recently accelerated as part of the company's global environmental strategy.

In addition to requiring less petroleum in the manufacturing process, the tires result in lower rolling resistance, which increases the fuel-efficiency of the vehicles using them. Use of the orange oil also improves the tires' "recyclability," company spokesmen said.

Kudos to Yokohama for making our planet a little more renewable.