Many people may not realize that the Ford Motor Company has made a notable effort to green up their manufacturing process. Among their eco-friendly practices, they use seat fabrics made with recycled plastic bottle yarn, recycled plastic resin for their underbody systems made with battery casings and detergent bottles and seat cushions made with soy-based polyurethane foams. Well, they are currently trying to shake their dependence on one of the worst environmental offenders in the auto industry -- plastic.
The mad (yet brilliant) collection of scientists over at their European Research Centre in Aachen, Germany are toying with an innovative wood-plastic compound (WPC) -- aka "liquid wood" -- that is highly recyclable (up to 5 times), yielding a CO2 balance that is almost neutral. They are so excited about the prospect of converting scrap wood and paper waste into a high tech yet uber sustainable material that $1.4 million is being invested into its 3 year research and development. Their rubber compounding process entails mashing up waste wood, paper pulp, wax and fibers and pouring the slurry into an injection mold, enabling it to solidify. Aside from its obvious environmental benefits, the plastic free material is as flexible as its brethren but remains toxin and phthalate free.
As it stands, the majority of car interiors are composed of plastic, so it is understandable why Ford hopes that this material will become the standard in their automobile future. High-quality household terrace building panels have been the only liquid wood-created structures up until now. Using the material in place of conventional trim parts is one plus, but they also hope to create battery trays and additional engine compartment items out of it. This would be another feather in Ford's eco-cap considering that they are already using renewable resources such as natural rubber, flax, cotton, jute fiber, wood and hemp in approximately 290 automobile parts.
Roger Capps
said on August 03, 2009
Surinder Saini
said on August 04, 2009