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.
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.
Scandinavian Enviro Systems (Enviro) reports having developed a new type of recovered carbon black with improved dispersion properties. It developed this new type of carbon black to meet demand from the tyre and rubber industry and has produced the material at its plant in Åsensbruk, Sweden ”for some time” now.
Risorce, a Belgian company active in the transportation and trading of end-of-life tyres, has closed a 12.5 million euro round of financing to fund a new end-of-life tyre recycling plant in Liège Province. This facility will utilise the pyrolysis process and have the capacity to process 2.4 million tyres a year, around half the waste car tyres collected in Belgium.
German pyrolysis technology specialist Pyrum Innovations AG and Greek firm Thermo Lysi SA have begun preliminary discussions about a new end-of-life tyre recycling plant in Greece. Pyrum has agreed to carry out all the planning necessary to obtain the building permits required under Greek law for the new facility, which will be located around 85 miles north of Athens.
Oil and carbon black that Scandinavian Enviro Systems (Enviro) recovers from end-of-life vehicle tyres in its plant in Åsensbruk, Sweden have received new certification in accordance with the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) scheme. This is the second time that the recovered carbon black and oil from the facility have gained ISCC certification – initial certification for recovered carbon black in September 2021 delivered Enviro a world first.
Korean waste treatment and raw material recycling company LD Carbon and Switzerland’s Tyre Recycling Solutions (TRS) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to set up a facility in South Korea. This plant will process end-of-life tyres (ELTs) into TyreXol rubber powders using the TRS Water Pulse process. LD Carbon will utilise ELTs not processed into TyreXol to produce tyre pyrolysis oil and recovered carbon black products whose quality has already passed various global tyre manufacturers’ assurance tests for commercial adoptions.
GRI is increasing its use of Recycled Carbon Black (RCB) for compounding within its specialty tyre production in a bid to shift towards “sustainable practices, products, and eco-friendly solutions”.
Teams competing in this year’s Bridgestone World Solar Challenge (BWSC) will drive on the first motorsport tyres to feature Enliten technology. Furthermore, one of the tyre specifications that Bridgestone custom designed for the 1,860-mile (3,000 km) route through Australia contains 63 per cent recycled and renewable materials.
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.
Bicycle tyres are generally beyond the Tyrepress.com remit, but we’re making an exception for a product billed as the first of its kind with a “closed-loop product cycle.” In addition to being made from 100% Fair Rubber, the Schwalbe Green Marathon contains around 50% renewable & 20% recyclable raw materials. This 20% includes all carbon black used in the tyre.
Pyrum Innovations is bringing its pyrolysis-based tyre recycling technology to the UK in partnership with SUEZ recycling and recovery UK Ltd. The two companies have entered into a one-year exclusivity agreement for a facility with three pyrolysis reactors that can process approximately 20,000 tonnes of end-of-life tyres annually. During the year SUEZ will determine the plant’s location and, with support from Pyrum, begin and finance the approval process.
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.
Bridgestone Corporation recently began producing oil and recovered carbon black through the pyrolysis of end-of-life tyres at a test facility in Japan. The tyre maker is operating this unit within the Bridgestone Innovation Park in Kodaira City, Tokyo as part of a joint project with Eneos Corporation.
Nokian Tyres is taking part in a research project that aims to improve the quality and yield of recycled carbon black from end-of-life tyres, with the goal of using this material more extensively in tyre and rubber products. The two-year development project is coordinated by Windspace Group A/S and co-financed by government initiative the Danish Eco-Innovation Program.
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