Raw Materials
Pyrum Innovations has dropped plans to build a pyrolysis tyre recycling plant at Homburg, in Germany’s Saarland – but is still confident of setting up its second facility within the originally-announced timeframe, more or less. The company has already identified a potential new location.
A scientific study conducted by researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute highlights the CO2 savings the pyrolysis process offers over conventional means of tyre recycling. Titled ‘A comparative life cycle assessment of tyre recycling using pyrolysis compared to conventional end-of-life pathways’, the study contrasts Pyrum Innovations’ pyrolysis process against three other end-of-life tyre disposal methods.
Xingda has shared its vision on sustainability with stakeholders at the annual Xingda Global Forum, unveiling its goals for 2030 and its plans to “facilitate green and low-carbon transformation with digital technology and intelligent manufacturing”.
Vaculug is using lignin as a protective agent in its compounds. The company described the integration of the sustainable material into its production process as an “innovative approach” that “marks a significant milestone in the quest for eco-friendly solutions in the tyre industry”.
WMG at the University of Warwick in Coventry and Canada’s University of Victoria are the joint recipients of the inaugural Synthos Rubber Circularity Award, an international competition launched earlier this year to encourage cutting-edge ideas and solutions that significantly improve the environmental performance of synthetic rubber-based tyre compounds. Announcing the winners, Synthos states that the researchers impressed with their “breakthrough technology research concept” but did not elaborate on their work.
Orion S.A. has celebrated the completion of its first greenfield project – a carbon black plant in eastern China that will supply fast-growing demand in Asia. The facility in the city of Huaibei in Anhui province will produce carbon black for a variety of applications, including rubber, polymers and fibres. The site’s two production lines have a total capacity of 70 kilotons per year.
Recycling company Remondis Group recently signed a letter of intent with Pyrum Innovations. The partners intend to set up a plant for reclaiming raw materials from end-of-life tyres on a site in Bremen, Germany that’s owned by Weserport, a subsidiary of Remondis sister company Rhenus. This plant will be capable of recycling 20,000 tonnes of tyres annually.
Pyrum Innovations has produced the first batch of pyrolysis oil in one of the two new reactors it has installed at its main facility in Germany. Although the Pyrum team has only made “small quantities” of oil so far, this marks a further step towards volume production.
Following on from their call to action at the 2021 Smithers rCB conference, Bridgestone Corporation and Michelin Group have updated progress on their goal of increasing recovered carbon black (rCB) utilisation in tyre production. A joint technical white paper, titled Bridgestone & Michelin: Recovered Carbon Black Guidelines, shares the results of their work with other stakeholders to develop a global standard to this end.
Capacity at Pyrum Innovations AG’s main plant in Dillingen/Saar, Germany will soon increase following the successful warm commissioning of the site’s two new pyrolysis reactors. With licensing authorities having given the green light for production to start, Pyrum will soon begin recovering oil from end-of-life tyres within Reactors 2 & 3.
The inaugural meeting of the Tire-to-Tire Circular Economy Model consortium took place at Hankook Tire & Technology’s Technodome facility in Daejeon, South Korea on 1 November. The Hankook Tire-initiated consortium aims to create a sustainable business model for end-of-life tyres in Korea by “designing innovative upcycling processes” for turning them into new tyres.
Toyo Tire Holdings of Europe has formed an industry-university partnership for the research and development of sustainable raw materials with the University of Novi Sad in Serbia. Toyo Tire corporate officer Kenta Kuribayashi and University of Novi Sad faculty dean Biljana Pajin signed the agreement on 3 November in Serbia’s second-largest city. Toyo Tire produces tyres in Serbia. The Japanese manufacturer said that it intends to promote technology development through this industry-university partnership and wishes to contribute to educational policies in Serbia.
Polish end-of-life-tyre (ELT) recycler ReOil is increasing its pyrolysis activities in Bukowno and has contracted Zeppelin Systems to build a second plant there. Construction is scheduled to start in February 2024 and when completed the new plant will treble plant capacity at the 11-hectare (27-acre) site to around 60,000 tonnes of ELTs annually. Zeppelin Systems intends to provide solutions it can later offer as part of license arrangements.
A new collaboration between The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and California-based bioengineering firm Visolis will lead to the production of isoprene through the upcycling of biobased materials. This collaboration, which Goodyear announced yesterday, is supported by a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant awarded to Visolis earlier this year.
Carbon black supplier, Birla Carbon has implemented Blue Yonder’s Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) digital technology. According to the company, the Blue Yonder solution was deployed at Birla Carbon through 2023, “revolutionizing key S&OP processes, including demand and supply planning in a dynamic world”. Birla Carbon engaged Ernst & Young, India (EY) as a transformation partner during the process.
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