VOCs Management Brief for the Rubber Tire Manufacturing Industry
I. Industry Overview
Tires are the most valuable and well-integrated subcategory in the rubber products sector, widely used in passenger cars, commercial vehicles, construction machinery, motorcycles, and other equipment. Currently, the industry's products are evolving towards higher performance, greener, and more intelligent directions. Special tires for new energy vehicles have become an important growth driver. By 2025, the domestic market for special tires for new energy vehicles will exceed 120 billion yuan, accounting for 25% of the passenger car tire market.
According to product type, tires are mainly divided into four categories: passenger car tires (PCR), commercial vehicle tires (TBR), off-road tires (OTR), and other tires such as motorcycles and special tires. In 2025, the total output of tire outer tires in China was 120.7 million pieces, with the radial tires accounting for 94.6%. Among them, the production of passenger car tires was 784 million pieces, accounting for 65% of the total output; the production of commercial vehicle tires was 302 million pieces, accounting for 25%; off-road tires and other tires each accounted for 5%. Passenger car tires and commercial vehicle tires together accounted for more than 90% of the market, and they are also the main source of VOCs emissions.
The core process of tire production includes raw material preparation, mixing, extrusion and molding, shaping, vulcanization, and final inspection. The kneading, extrusion and vulcanization processes are the main emission processes of VOCs and dust. Under the high-temperature shear effect of the kneading process, rubber and additives volatilize, and the exhaust gas contains benzene series substances and carbon black dust; the extrusion process generates volatile isolators and lubricants, resulting in medium and low concentration VOCs; the vulcanization process occurs at high temperature and high pressure, generating organic waste gas and releasing odorous substances such as hydrogen sulfide and disulfide, which is a high-incidence section for environmental protection complaints; the molding and final inspection processes have lower exhaust gas emissions.
The tire manufacturing industry chain is clear in structure. The upstream consists of natural rubber, synthetic rubber, carbon black, steel cord， and various vulcanization and anti-aging additives. The quality of additives directly affects the VOCs emission level； the middle part is the tire manufacturing enterprises， which are the main sources of exhaust gas emissions， and the industry shows a pattern of concentrated leadership and dispersed small and medium-sized entities； the downstream is divided into the vehicle component market， the car replacement market， and the off-road equipment market. In 2025， the domestic car ownership exceeded 420 million， and the replacement market accounted for 60% - 65% of the total sales volume， continuously driving the release of tire production capacity and indirectly bringing stable VOCs treatment demand.
The characteristics of domestic tire clusters are obvious. Shandong is the largest production area， accounting for more than 55% of the national total； Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the Yangtze River Delta account for about 20% of the national total； Fujian is an export base for foreign-funded enterprises； Anhui has rapidly risen as an emerging industry base， and Liaoning， Chongqing， and Guangdong are regional production supplements. Industry enterprises are divided into three echelons： the first echelon consists of leading enterprises with annual revenue over 10 billion yuan， with high automation levels， and most have completed high-end VOCs treatment renovations； the second echelon consists of medium-sized backbone enterprises， with some equipment still having upgrade space； the third echelon consists of a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises， with generally backward processes and insufficient environmental protection investment， and is a market for incremental technological transformation. The "Pollutant Emission Standards for Rubber Products Industry" (GB27632-2011) stipulates that the non-methane total hydrocarbons emission concentration should be ≤ 30mg/m³, and sets limits for characteristic pollutants such as benzene, toluene, and xylene; The "Odor Pollutant Emission Standards" addresses the odor problems caused by sulfurization, such as hydrogen sulfide and disulfide. The industry technical guidelines clearly state the "source reduction + process control + end treatment" approach, and for large volume and low concentration exhaust gases, the zeolite wheel concentration + RTO/RCO process is preferred.
The core production areas have introduced more stringent local control standards. Shandong promotes the construction of green factories in the tire industry, requiring the implementation of concentration combustion treatment for rubber compounding and vulcanization exhaust gases; The Yangtze River Delta implements "three unifications" for VOCs treatment, with non-methane total hydrocarbons exceeding 10mg/m³ for the implementation of organized emissions ≤ 10mg/m³; The local emission standard DB34/4812.6-2024 of Anhui also tightens the NMHC emission limit to 10mg/m³; Fujian's key areas have phased out low-efficiency treatment facilities such as single activated carbon adsorption. The stricter local standards force enterprises to carry out equipment technological renovations, releasing a large amount of treatment market space.
III. Market Size and Development Trends
The overall domestic tire manufacturing industry market size is approximately 184.2 billion yuan in 2025, with 683 domestic-scale tire enterprises, and the industry's CR5 reaches 42%. The industry concentration continues to increase. The capacity utilization rate of leading enterprises can reach 85-90%, while that of small and medium-sized enterprises is generally less than 60%. Based on calculations, the total market size of zeolite wheel + RTO treatment equipment in the domestic tire industry in 2025 is approximately 2.28 billion yuan.
There are multiple driving factors for the development of the industry: The continuous increase in the penetration rate of new energy vehicles, and the strict environmental protection and carbon footprint requirements proposed by for supply chain enterprises； The increase in car ownership leads to the rigid demand for replacement tires； The continuous tightening of VOCs control by the national and local authorities， and the normalization of environmental protection inspections； The leading domestic tire enterprises accelerate overseas factory construction to avoid trade barriers， and the overseas bases also need to be equipped with exhaust gas treatment equipment； The outdated production capacity is continuously cleared， and resources are concentrated in the leading enterprises.
From 2026 to 2030， the industry development presents several major trends： In the product end， the proportion of new energy-specific tires and intelligent tires continues to increase； In terms of capacity， domestic production is concentrated in core clusters， while new bases in overseas are also an important increment； Environmental protection treatment shifts from simple compliance emissions to deep treatment， energy conservation， and consumption reduction， and the combined pre-treatment + zeolite wheel + thermal oxidation process becomes the mainstream； Enterprises increase source reduction， promote low VOCs raw materials and low-temperature vulcanization processes； Treatment equipment is iterated towards intelligent remote operation， dust-blocking resistance， and long service life.
From the project situation， there are a large number of expansion， renovation， and new tire projects implemented in China from 2024 to 2026， distributed in Shandong， Anhui， Guangdong， and Jiangsu， covering high-performance semi-rubber tires， all-rubber tires， aviation tires， motorcycle tires， etc.， most of which are planned to be put into production in 2026-2028， and the new projects all need to be equipped with complete VOCs treatment systems. Overseas， domestic leading enterprises have laid out a large number of new factories in Mexico， Brazil， Egypt， Morocco， Cambodia， Malaysia， etc.， and the overseas projects have high requirements for the stability and international certification of exhaust gas treatment equipment.
IV. VOCs Emission Characteristics and Main Treatment Processes
VOCs in the tire industry mainly come from three processes： kneading， extrusion， and vulcanization， accounting for more than 95% of the total emissions. The overall exhaust gas characteristics are large volume， medium-low concentration， accompanied by carbon black dust， oil mist， high humidity， and also contains odorous substances such as hydrogen sulfide. The total processing air volume of a single factory can reach 50 - 150 million cubic meters per hour; the concentration of waste gas is mostly within the range of 50 - 300 mg/m³; the mixing section contains a large amount of carbon black dust, and the exhaust gas from the sulfurization process has high humidity, which easily causes the performance of the adsorption materials to decline; the leading enterprises have a relatively high exhaust gas collection rate, while the problems of unorganized emissions in small and medium-sized enterprises are relatively prominent.
The industry governance system is divided into two levels: pre-treatment and core purification. Pre-treatment is an indispensable step in the tire production process: cyclone + bag dust collector to remove the carbon black dust from the mixing section; oil mist separator to remove the oil mist from the pressing and extrusion process; alkali washing tower to treat the hydrogen sulfide odor in the sulfurization exhaust gas; heat exchanger to cool and dehumidify, ensuring the operation efficiency of the adsorption unit.
The end-point core process is divided into three levels:
High-end process: zeolite rotor + RTO, which is the mainstream and efficient solution in the industry, with a concentration ratio of 10 - 20 times, high purification efficiency, capable of meeting the strict local standard of NMHC ≤ 10 mg/m³, suitable for new construction and technological renovation projects of leading enterprises and core production areas.
Mid-range process: activated carbon adsorption and desorption + CO, which can meet the basic requirements of the national standard, mostly used in the transitional stage of medium-sized enterprises, facing the replacement pressure brought by policy upgrades.
Low-end process: single-stage activated carbon adsorption, simple incineration, with low processing efficiency, unable to meet the current local control requirements, and is gradually being phased out.
