DaimlerChrysler 2007 Environmental Research Award announced at the Banksia Awards DaimlerChrysler continues commitment to local research
Melbourne – Queensland based research company Molectra Technologies have been awarded the prestigious DaimlerChrysler Environmental Reseach Award at the 19th annual Banksia Foundation Awards, held in Sydney on Friday.
The $30,000 cash prize, which is one of the largest of its kind in Australia, was awarded to Molectra for its innovative and potential climate changing tyre recycling process.
Having generated a wave of interest in its inaugural outing last year, the DaimlerChrysler Environmental Research Award attracted the crème of Australia’s researchers working on initiatives with the potential to make a significant difference to sustainability.
“Having developed a process that reclaims all of the components that make up a tyre cleanly and efficiently, and one that is realistic and commercially viable, Molectra is a worthy winner of this environmental award and DaimlerChrysler are proud to recognise their outstanding work,” said David McCarthy, Senior Manager for Corporate Communications, DaimlerChrysler Australia Pacific.
“This award recognises that there are significant issues to be addressed and that they will only be solved with research, which means that all of us, individuals, private industry and every level of Government should be encouraging research.
“Without research there are no solutions. That’s why we as the company that invented the motor car have environmental sustainability as a central focus in our research perspective. This has been the case for a long time, and not just since the topic hit the headlines.
“DaimlerChrysler invests almost 24 million Australian dollars in research and development every day. A large part of that investment is spent on technologies for clean and environmentally friendly vehicles.
“Since 1995 we have reduced the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of our passenger car fleet in Europe by 20 percent. That’s significant, but we want to do even better – across all of our brands in all markets. That’s why we are striving to make our gasoline engines as efficient as our diesels – and our diesels as clean as our gasoline engines.
“We are also well positioned in the area of hybrid technology. Today we are the worldwide market leader in the hybrid bus segment. And in the future every one of our passenger cars will be developed to accommodate a hybrid drive system as an option.
“Locally in a partnership with Climate Positive we have developed an innovative program that incorporates 115% carbon offset with renewable energy and tree planting and an education program through Mercedes-Benz passenger car ownership,” said McCarthy.
Molectra Technologies
It is estimated that around 18 million waste tyres are generated in Australia each year, and that about 57% of waste tyres go to landfill while 13% are disposed of inappropriately through illegal dumping. Apart from the costs to society through littering our landscapes and waterways and taking up scarce landfill space, waste tyres are a source of health and environmental concerns.
In response to the growing urgency for a realistic solution, Molectra Technologies has developed a process that will reclaim products that make up a tyre. They extract the energy stored in tyres to run the whole process and use the extracted by-products to optimise commercial viability, thus addressing a worldwide environmental issue. There is no waste, residue or emissions.
One specific innovation of the process is that the hydrocarbon gas and oil recovered from the tyres can be used to generate enough electricity to operate the whole plant where the tyre recycling takes place.
For their contribution, Molectra Technologies has received $30,000 toward furthering their research to help make a better world for all of us.
Left to right: John Dobozy Junior - Molectra Technologies , David McCarthy - Senior Manager Corporate Communications, DaimlerChrysler, John Dobozy - Molectra Technologies