Pyrolysis technology: Michelin partnering with Enviro

Michelin is entering into a partnership with Swedish firm Scandinavian Enviro Systems (Enviro) to develop and industrialise on a large scale pyrolysis technology to recycle end of life tyres into raw materials. The two companies signed a shareholding subscription today that will see a subsidiary of the tyre maker, Michelin Ventures SAS, acquire a 20 per cent stake in Enviro, a shareholding worth SEK 32,526,262 (£2.6 million). The placement is expected to be completed by 29 April 2020 at the latest.

The 2001-founded Swedish start-up has developed a technology to modify, at minimal energy consumption, the chemical composition and physical phase of tyre rubber during the pyrolysis process.This technology results in high-quality products such as recovered carbon black, pyrolysis oil, steel or gas, products that can then be re-incorporated into the production circuit of different industrial sectors.

Michelin & Enviro’s partnership

The partnership between Michelin and Enviro is based on four axes:

• A Development Agreement to deploy Enviro’s pyrolysis technology on a larger scale
• Michelin’s stake of 20 per cent of Enviro’s capital, a total of 116,165,223 shares at a subscription price of SEK 0.28 per share, making Michelin the largest shareholder. The Michelin Group will support the development of Enviro via representation on its board, which is expected to be proposed to the shareholder vote.
• A joint project to build a factory to industrialise the technology. The location of the plant will be confirmed at a later date.
• A joint Supply Agreement between Michelin and Enviro.

Pooling know-how

An aim of this partnership is to allow both companies’ know-how to be pooled, thereby accelerating progress in the development of tyre recycling technology. Michelin will bring its industrial know-how to the plant’s construction project and its know-how in terms of research and development and production. Enviro will bring its patented pyrolysis technology.

“The partnership we have just signed with Enviro fits perfectly with Michelin’s ‘All Sustainable’ vision. After the acquisition of Lehigh Technologies in 2017, a specialist in high-tech micro-powders derived from recycled tyres, this is a further proof of Michelin’s long-term commitment to recycling and sustainable mobility,” comments Sonia Artinian-Fredou, executive vice president of Services and Solutions at Michelin and the tyre maker’s High Technology Materials business director.

“Michelin is one of the world’s leading tyre manufacturers and this collaboration means that we can become established globally in a way that we would never have managed alone,” adds Enviro’s chairman, Alf Blomqvist.

Discussions are ongoing between the two companies with the objective to conclude a final agreement by mid-2020.