PYReco Facility at Planning Stage

British company PYReco reports its first UK facility to extract raw materials from end of life tyres through pyrolysis is now at the planning stage. The plant, to be located in Teesside, is expected to recover more than a quarter of a million barrels of oil equivalent per annum and 20,000 tonnes of carbon black, along with other materials.

The construction of the new facility comes following a decade of research and development conducted by Metso Minerals, with whom PYReco has been affiliated for the last two years. These tests have been carried out at Metso’s Process Research & Test Center in Pennsylvania, USA, a fully equipped pyrolysis test facility with a scrap tyre feeding capacity of over 100 kg/hr.

Teesside was selected as a prime location for the business, says PYReco, because of its workforce’s experience in the petrochemical industry, excellent infrastructure and support offered by the Renew Tees Valley and One NorthEast agencies. In September PYReco said the planned facility will create about 50 permanent jobs on site, with many more in supporting services such as sales administration, distribution and tyre shredding.

The new facility is anticipated to handle about 60,000 tonnes of shredded tyres per year in a closed-loop recycling programme that produces raw materials – steel, carbon black, oil and gas – suitable for use in the manufacture of new tyres and in other industrial applications. It is reported that zero waste and no harmful emissions will result from the pyrolysis process.

“This represents the conclusion of a long-lasting quest to find a viable solution to one of the UK and Europe’s most difficult recycling problems,” said PYReco chairman Anthony Carter. “It provides a highly effective and ‘green’ way of dealing with used tyres. It is a project of global importance and with Teesside’s long history of expertise in petrochemicals, it is only fitting that our business will be based here.”