Council approval for Pyrum Innovation’s second plant

Pyrum Innovations confirms it will begin construction of its second wholly owned end-of-life tyre recycling facility in the second half of this year. At a meeting on 6 February, the local council of Perl in Germany’s Saarland region overwhelmingly approved the project. Pyrum has taken initial steps by ordering the first components for the plant and has recently established a subsidiary dedicated to its operation, Pyrum GreenFactory II GmbH.

“We continue to push the face,” comments Pascal Klein, chief executive officer of Pyrum Innovations AG. “Only around eight weeks have passed between the initial approval of the local and municipal councils for the establishment of Pyrum in December 2023 and the current adoption of the final development plan.

“After demonstrating with the expansion of our main plant in Dillingen that our technology works and is scalable, we now want to roll out our pyrolysis process on a large scale in order to sustainably solve the recycling problem with used tyres. To this end, we have already ordered the first plant components with notoriously long delivery times and construction is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2024.”

Hiccup in late 2023

The company originally intended to build its second facility in Homburg, around 50 miles east of Perl-Besch, but this plan unravelled in the closing months of 2023. Pyrum Innovations announced at the time that despite “a great deal of support” from local and state politicians as well as the Saarland state development agency, it became apparent that water protection requirements for the Homburg site would require additional and “considerable” investment.

Further commenting on its experiences last year, Pyrum writes that “as the city had underestimated the impact of the water protection area at our originally planned location in Homburg and we were unable to obtain the necessary special permits and exemptions we had been promised, we are very happy to have found a new, very suitable location so quickly in Perl-Besch.” The company specifically thanks the Saarland state government, the Saar Economic Promotion Corporation, the municipality of Perl and the Hippert family.

European expansion with partners

In addition to extending its main plant and building a second facility, Pyrum Innovations is currently planning further joint plants across Europe with partner firms. According to the company, “nothing stands in the way” of its rollout plans, which involves starting construction at up to six sites by the end of 2025.

For Pyrum Innovations, financing is the “most important step” towards commercially rolling out its pyrolysis technology. The “great support” of partner BASF, which has provided 50 million euros of start-up financing in two equal-sized tranches, deserves “special mention” in this regard, as Pyrum currently considers itself too large for venture capital financing but still too small for many banks and project financiers.

“The phase between proving that a new technology works and generating stable results is a very big challenge for companies after the start-up phase in terms of financing,” states Pyrum chief executive Pascal Klein in the company’s inaugural Investor Newsletter, published on 8 February. “Only with a strategic partner and investor like BASF is it therefore possible for us to realise our growth course and thus overcome the phase of a lack of financing options – the so-called ‘Valley of Death’. After that, numerous financing options will open up to us. We are therefore very pleased about the valuable cooperation with BASF and the trust that BASF is once again placing in us with this new agreement.”