Tyre manufacturer Continental has phased out coal and heavy fuel oil as energy sources at its production plants globally.

As of January this year the all the firm’s plants have only been powered through alternative energy sources, including biomass, biogas and electricity from renewable sources.

Liquefied petroleum gas and natural gas are also being used to “ensure a constant energy supply”, said the manufacturer.

“For us, coal and heavy fuel oil are a thing of the past. The future lies in renewable energies,” added the firm’s head of manufacturing and logistics Dr. Bernhard Trilken.

“By relying on a smart mix of energy sources – increasingly renewable and ideally generated directly on site – we are making our manufacturing more independent and therefore more resilient.”

Seven of its 19 production facilities worldwide had been relying on coal and heavy fuel oil to generate steam, said the firm.

“We have significantly reduced our production-related CO₂ emissions, thanks to continuous investments in electrification and changing the energy sources used for heat generation at our plants worldwide,” said Henning Mühlenstedt, head of future technologies and sustainable infrastructure at Continental.

The firm has detailed how the change has impacted several of its sites.

For example, at its plant in Gqeberha, South Africa “coal had long been part of the site’s steam generation”.

“Today, the plant has switched to biomass, with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) covering the remaining energy demand.”

Another plant impacted in Kalutara, Sri Lanka “has undergone a similarly transformative journey” through the “commissioning of a second biomass boiler last year”.

At its Otrokovice site in the Czech Republic, “Continental worked closely with its regional energy supplier to align steam generation with the company’s climate targets”, added the firm.

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