A little over a year after first selecting a site near Germany’s border with Luxembourg for its second wholly owned waste tyre pyrolysis facility, Pyrum Innovations AG has progressed plans further by submitting approval documents relevant to Germany’s Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG).
For the first time, Pyrum Innovations is operating all three production lines at its main site in Dillingen/Saar, Germany. The thermolysis waste tyre recycling specialist reports that the new TAD 2 and TAD 3 lines have been running alongside the original TAD 1 line since last weekend and will operate in unison for a week before TAD 1 is closed down for scheduled maintenance.
Researchers at the University of Delaware have developed a promising method to remove toxic particles from end-of-life tyres. A team from the University’s Center for Plastics Innovation and Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering has devised a chemical extraction process to isolate 6PPD from used tyres. The results of this research appear in the publication Nature Chemical Engineering.
There’s no doubt that tyre makers are finding sustainable raw materials increasingly attractive, but the road to monetising such a product can be long and frustrating. Pyrum Innovations has been actively developing its thermolysis technology for 16 years now, and during this time attracted the attention and favour of major tyre industry players. This hasn’t prevented the Dillingen, Germany-based company from posting another net loss in the first nine months of 2024.
Polish waste tyre recycler Recykl Group says it increased the scale of its operations in the nine months to 30 September 2024, and during the final month of this period concluded due diligence processes regarding potential acquisitions in Germany and Lithuania. The company is currently analysing the results to prepare for possible transaction agreements, with Recykl’s Management Board anticipating reaching a decision by the end of the year.
At present, trade associations in the tyre recycling sector generally recommend that no more than around five per cent ground rubber from end-of-life tyres goes into the production of new tyres. But Evonik is confident of quadrupling this ratio. A team of researchers have been working to counter the restrictions imposed by the chemical structure of recycled rubber, and the company reports having achieved a “key step forward with a process that could make it possible to use up to four times as much recycled rubber in new tyres as in the past.”
Japanese general trading company Marubeni Corporation has announced its investment in Thailand-based waste tyre pyrolysis recycler Green Rubber Energy Company Limited (GRE). By investing in this venture, Marubeni intends to establish a tyre recycling supply chain in Thailand that encompasses the collection of end-of-life tyres and the production and sale of recycled materials such as recovered carbon black and tyre pyrolysis oil. Marubeni has not disclosed the size of its investment in GRE.
As of this month, New Zealand’s first national tyre recycling scheme is fully operational. The free collection of end-of-life tyres commenced on 1 September, half a year after the country added a tyre stewardship fee to the cost of every newly imported tyre, replacing the ad-hoc disposal fees that many tyre retailers used to charge. Penny Simmonds, New Zealand’s Environment Minister, considers the introduction of the Tyrewise scheme a “significant step toward addressing a long-standing issue.”
Canadian clean technology company Ecolomondo Corporation is looking to expand and to further develop its Thermal Decomposition Process (TDP) technology, particularly within the tyre recycling sector, after raising funds through a combination of private placement and loan.
GB Tyres is introducing a nationwide tyre waste disposal service, providing customers with an alternative to the challenge of disposing of end-of-life tyres themselves or through third parties. By doing so, the tyre distributor is ensuring that waste tyres don’t accumulate in landfills, junkyards, or end up sitting in retailers’ yards, releasing harmful chemicals into the air, ground, and water.
The Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) welcomes confirmation from DEFRA that the new government remains committed to reforming the waste exemptions regime, as originally outlined by the previous administration. Following the general election, TRA hopes that new political leadership will finally complete the reforms to T8 exemptions first announced six years ago.
Polish firm Contec, developer of the proprietary ‘Molten’ pyrolysis process for recovering carbon black, oil and steel from end-of-life tyres, has appointed Dominika Żelazek to the position of CFO. Referring to this “strategic move” that underscores the company’s “commitment to innovation and sustainable growth,” Contec says Żelazek comes on board at a time when it is preparing for “international expansion and fundraising efforts.”
During a parliamentary inquiry into government agency procurement practices, Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA) emphasised that procurement policy and a robust approach to product stewardship are “the keys” to creating hundreds of local jobs in the waste tyre sector. Australia currently generates half a million tonnes of waste tyres, equivalent to 62.5 million passenger car tyres, every year.
Ecolomondo Corporation, a Canadian cleantech company that has developed thermal decomposition technology for recovering raw materials from scrap tyres, has appointed Gary Economo as Chief Executive Officer. Economo succeeds Eliot Sorella, who assumes the role of Executive Chairman while retaining his position as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Davydovo Tire Manufacturing Company LLC (Davydovo), the company formed after Michelin sold its Russian assets, is establishing a facility to process end-of-life tyres into crumb rubber. A key aim of this project is to reduce reliance upon imported products, and it has thus gained support from the Moscow Regional Government’s Industrial Development Fund.
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