A billion tyres reach the end of their useful lives worldwide each year, but landfills are a no-no and a growing number of countries are banning the burning of tyres in cement kilns. What to do with these waste tyres? Pyrum Innovations is showing the world its solution, and customers, project partners and suppliers are already lining up to be part of it.
Pascal Klein, co-founder and chief executive officer of pyrolysis end-of-life tyre recycler Pyrum Innovations AG, has been named a winner of the ‘Top 40 under 40’ award by German business magazine Capital.
Australia’s government has included tyres in the list of products that industry must ensure are handled and ultimately disposed of in an environmentally appropriate manner. Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek added tyres to the Minister’s product stewardship priority list for 2022–23. This list was published on 8 November.
When it commences operations in 2024, the end-of-life tyre (ELT) processing facility that Bolder Industries, Inc. and three partners are setting up in the Port of Antwerp will be capable of processing approximately 3 million ELTs a year. Bolder says this will “dramatically increase” production volumes for BolderBlack and BolderOil and satisfy increasing demand for these sustainable, circular raw materials in Europe and beyond.
Carlton Forest Group has appointed Mark Horobin its chief financial officer. Horobin, who is ACA (ICAEW) qualified, has enjoyed a successful career in finance with his roles taking him to Denmark, UAE, and Italy in addition to the UK.
The Tasmanian government is offering industry partners up to AU$3 million for the development of rubber crumbing plants or alternative and sustainable solutions for the recovery of end-of-life tyres. Australia’s island state is offering this support under its recently launched Waste Tyre Reprocessing Grant Program.
Mercedes-Benz is starting to equip its EQE and S-Class models with door handles containing materials gleaned from end-of-life tyres, and those involved in the project have been acknowledged for their contribution. Pyrolysis-based recycling specialist Pyrum Innovations, together with BASF, Mercedes-Benz and Witte Automotive, received a Materialica Design + Technology Award 2022 at this month’s eMove360 ° trade fair.
Authorities in Germany have granted Pyrum Innovations AG approval to start operating the two new production lines at its main plant in Dillingen. Obtaining this official permit is a significant milestone for Pyrum as it verifies the approvability of its series production plants and means that future facilities can be built without facing official restrictions.
Pyrum Innovations intends to build up to ten pyrolysis plants for recycling end-of-life tyres in the EU by 2030 together with tank terminal operator Unitank Betriebs- und Verwaltungs. The two firms agreed on this in a MoU signed in September. The first plant will be built in Germany, with its exact location finalised by the end of this year and commercial operation probably commencing late 2025.
Scandinavian Enviro Systems is in the midst of an expansive phase, and as part of the accompanying enlargement of its finance department has appointed Staffan Kullberg its new chief financial officer. Urban Folcker, whom Kullberg succeeds in this role, will assume responsibility for expanding the company’s capacity in business control and for developing processes in the finance area required to support expansion.
Discarded tyres will soon find a new home within the latest Mercedes-Benz models. Pyrum Innovations AG, which produces pyrolysis oil from end-of-life tyres (ELT), is supplying oil to its cooperation partner BASF SE, which in turn is combining the oil with biomethane as a raw material in the production of virgin plastics for vehicle components. Door handles will be the first products to have their fossil raw materials replaced by biomethane and pyrolysis oil from ELT. These will appear on Mercedes-Benz EQE and S-Class models later in 2022.
Last Friday, CTS Tyre Recycling broke ground on the first-ever tyre recycling facility in Western Australia. Construction work will begin in the coming weeks, and when the AU$7 million (£4.1 million) plant enters service, it will have a capacity to process around 30,000 tonnes of end-of-life tyres a year with the possibility of doubling this at a later date. The facility’s aim is to help Western Australia manage the impact of Australia’s recently-introduced ban on waste tyre exports.
Engineers from Australia’s RMIT University have managed to replace 100 per cent of conventional aggregates in concrete – such as gravel and crushed rock – with rubber from discarded tyres to create a product that meets building codes. The team behind the project says that in addition to contributing to the circular economy, the new greener and lighter concrete also promises to reduce manufacturing and transportation costs significantly.
Last November, US-based sustainable materials firm Bolder Industries announced that it had entered into a partnership with major recycler Liberty Tire Recycling. The two companies have now completed a formal agreement outlining their North American partnership.
At its recent Annual General Meeting, the first held since the company’s IPO in Oslo and its secondary listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Pyrum Innovations AG shared details of the special purpose vehicles (SPV) that it intends to establish with joint venture partners. It has already announced one of these, a 20,000-tonne pyrolysis plant in Germany, but a further six SPV projects are on the cards – including a facility in the UK.
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