Green Tires From Orange Peels Use Less Oil, Bring Better MPGs

[zjrog]

Very nice. Prices for oranges will go through the roof now... I go through half dozen or so a week when I can decent oranges, wonder how I can donate/recycle the peels... But if there is already an existing waste stream to pull from, so much the better.

[Clev]

Household peels probably wouldn't be worth saving and collecting (and would probably rot by the time they got to the factory.) But there are still canning and juicing operations that probably would be happy to actually get money for their waste.

[cfg83]

Daox -

I wonder. Are there other applications for this process? :

But by infusing orange oil into natural rubber, a new line of tires from Yokohama cuts four-fifths of the petroleum needed to manufacture a tire.

Does this mean we can get the petroleum out of plastics and other stuff, or is this a "natural rubber + orange oil" only thing? Why orange oil as opposed to peanut oil?

I'm definitely going to look into Yokohamas on my next tire purchase.

CarloSW2

[TomO]

The cheapest price I could find on them was $105 per tire in the 185/65/15 size...way too expensive and way too big for my (now categorized) subcompact Civic VX.

This saddens me.

[Daox]

Somewhat unfortunately, my Prius has nearly brand new tires and they appear to be long life tires as well, or I'd at least look at these for replacement. They are not LRRs.

[Clev]

They're not exactly stock size, but they could probably be made to fit both my cars. I wonder just how much FE would be improved. My driving is mostly highway, so it would be a good match.

[Christ]

zjrog -

If you look into building an oil press, you can extract natural oils from many of the things that you compost, such as coffee, tea, heavy fruit/vegetable husks/skins, cobs, cores, etc.

It's not much, but enough to make scented candles, scented soaps, etc. You can find a million uses for them, or you can wait a year until you get a gallon, and make yourself a gallon of bio-fuel.

[cfg83]

Hello -

Here they are on tirerack.com :

Tire Specs for Yokohama dB Super E-Spec

185/65R15, 195/65R15, 195/55/R16 and 215/60R16, all rated at 44 PSI except for the last one, which is pending. I like the 195/65R15 at 44 PSI. I would only have to give up my current 51 PSI max Continentals.

We'll see. I have about 6/32" tread depth on my tires (10/32" new), so I don't have a near-term need.

CarloSW2

[Peter7307]

Originally Posted by cfg83

Daox -

I wonder. Are there other applications for this process? :



Does this mean we can get the petroleum out of plastics and other stuff, or is this a "natural rubber + orange oil" only thing? Why orange oil as opposed to peanut oil?

I'm definitely going to look into Yokohamas on my next tire purchase.

CarloSW2

Carlos,
I know orange oil and other citrus oils are used as bio degradable cleaners but I have never heard of the them as a replacement for petroleum products.
Interesting line of thinking though.

I am looking for other developments of this thread.

Does this help with recycling at all?

Pete.

[TomO]

Originally Posted by cfg83

Hello -
Here they are on tirerack.com :
CarloSW2

thanks for posting that link....It's just as I supected, they're heavy tires, in reference to what I run that is.

The lightest one is 18lbs. That is the same weight as my Sumitomo HTR200 tires in 215/50/13 trim that I run in the summer, and my Sumitomos only run $50 a piece. My winter wheels are even lighter weighing in at 12lbs each Goodyear commuter tires in 155/80/13 trim