Sumitomo Rubber Group sold 110 million tyres worldwide in 2022 and is well aware of the importance that these products be recycled at the end of their working lives. For this reason, three group companies are collaborating to explore new recycling technologies.
Greenergy International Ltd. has submitted a planning application for two renewable fuel plants in Teesside, including a facility that utilises the company’s Green Tyre Technology (GTT) to produce recovered carbon black and low-carbon road and marine transport fuels from end-of-life tyres. The other facility will see Greenergy enter the Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) market, creating SAF from waste oils.
US-based waste-to-energy firm Global Clean Energy, Inc. (GCEI) reports that its Pyrolysis division has selected three European and ten domestic locations where pyrolysis facilities for processing end-of-life tyres into oil, recovered carbon black and steel can be built on a profitable basis. News of these proposed facilities follows the company’s decision not to initiate operations at another pyrolysis plant.
Following twelve months of technology appraisals, meetings with platform developers, due diligence, and alignment of vision and fit, Australia’s Triskel Group has selected end-of-life tyre (ELT) recycling technology from UK firm Carlton Forest Group. This partnership will result in a pyrolysis plant being built in Brisbane, with a further five plants following in the next five years.
Scandinavian Enviro Systems has raised SEK 300 million (£23.4 million) via a directed share issue and intends to use 75% of this to acquire shares in the previously announced, Michelin-supported joint venture with Antin Infrastructure Partners and to finance the JV’s first plant. The remaining 25% will finance Enviro’s operations for at least 24 months.
Despite its turnover increasing 4.6 per cent to more than 62 million euros in 2022 – a new record for the company – tyre recycler Genan reports that decreasing steel prices and significantly higher energy and freight costs more than halved its year-on-year earnings to less than 1.5 million euros. In response, the company is now speeding up its ongoing work to invest in renewable energy sources.
Mercedes-Benz will soon use waste tyres removed from its vehicles in the production of new cars. German pyrolysis recycling specialist Pyrum Innovations has taken the “next step” in its cooperation with the vehicle manufacturer and anticipates recycling several hundred tonnes of used tyres from the Mercedes-Benz Used Parts Centre every year. Pyrolysis oil made from these tyres will be used in the manufacture of vehicle components.
Around 40-50% of end-of-life tyres removed from vehicles in Russia are currently recycled, reports public company Russian Environmental Operator. This means that around 500 thousand tonnes of old tyres are recycled, mainly into low-grade products such as large rubber crumb and rubber chips for floor surfacing.
On 29 March, Scandinavian Enviro Systems and Antin Infrastructure Partners announced the formation of a joint venture. Michelin is supporting this JV, which it expects will “create the world’s first large-scale tyre recycling group.”
On 15 January 2018, The English Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Welsh Government published a consultation on “proposals to tackle crime and poor performance in the waste sector and introduce a new fixed penalty for the waste duty of care”. That 2018 consultation focussed on the standard of operator competence at permitted waste sites and introduced a fixed penalty notice for breaches of the household waste duty of care. Fast-forward to 13 February 2023 and Defra has made changes to “the ten waste exemptions of most concern”, which includes “mechanically treating end-of-life tyres” (ELT) known as T8 exemptions.
Pyrum Innovations will soon begin work on a new facility not far from its main plant in Germany. It reports that the town council in Homburg has unanimously approved the sale of a section of land to Pyrum for the purpose of setting up a new pyrolysis plant. The company hopes the planning and approval process can now “begin as soon as possible.”
Pyrum Innovations has marked an “important milestone” in the expansion of its main plant by installing the two pyrolysis reactors needed to complement the site’s existing production line with a further two. It will soon begin testing the installed components by carrying out loop checks as the first step in the cold commissioning process.
German pyrolysis technology company Pyrum Innovations AG has signed a letter of intent with Norway’s Polyfuels Group AB to jointly build and operate up to four pyrolysis plants for the processing of end-of-life tyres (ELT). The joint venture plants will be based on Pyrum technology and will be realised by Circular Tires AS, a wholly owned subsidiary of Polyfuels. The partners intend to build pyrolysis plants for recycling waste tyres in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Estonia by 2030.
During the Smithers Recovered Carbon Black conference, which took place in Berlin in November, Bridgestone and Michelin jointly shared the results of efforts to develop a global standard to increase the utilisation of recovered carbon black in tyres. Click here to read or download Bridgestone and Michelin’s rCB grades and specifications proposal presentation.
Tyre recycling and reprocessing specialist Murfitts Industries announced today its intention to form a “unique partnership” with French engineering group ETIA. The aim of this partnership is to deliver commercial-scale solutions for recycling end-of-life tyres to recover their raw material and energy content.
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