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Episode 21 of the Tyre Recycling Podcast features Jon Visaisouk from Canadian Tyromer – a successful devulcanization company who also expanded its operations to Europe

A Dutch investment portal “Invest in Holland” says that a Canada-based company Tyromer is now building a pilot factory in Arnhem to bring its circular rubber products to the European market. Specializing in the devulcanization of rubber from scrap tires, Tyromer will fine-tune and exhibit its recycling technology at its new Dutch facility in order to sell the process to third parties. The company is one of the first in the Netherlands to give this hard-to-process residual product a high-quality new life, making it a valuable addition to the Dutch circular economy.

According to the recent press release, Energy Estate and InfraCo announced a joint venture “REVYRE” to develop and build innovative tire recycling plants in Australia and New Zealand, utilizing two revolutionary technologies – Vertech / RubberJet Valley tire disintegration and Tyromer rubber devulcanization. The stakeholders say that currently Australia disposes of over 60,000 tons of end-of-life tires (ELTs) by exporting them and approximately 100,000 tons are stockpiled in landfills or stockpiled onsite (predominantly within the mining and agricultural sectors). With the COAG agreed ban on used tire exportation from December 2021 the annual growth in Australia’s tire stockpile will be even greater. New Zealand currently generates 5-6 million ELTs annually which equates to close to 70,000 tons. These units are either shredded locally for domestic burning in cement kilns as Tyre Derived Fuel (TDF) or are baled and exported for use as TDF in Asia, the press release pinpoints.

The well attended bi-annual Scrap Tire Recycling Conference was held at the Hyatt Regency in Greenville, South Carolina, and was organized by The Scrap Tire Research and Education Foundation (STREF). An a-propos location, since the state hosts the largest tire manufacturing industry and two major automobile assembly plants (BMW and Volvo). Attendance was higher than ever before, attesting to the fact that sustainable rubber manufacturing, tire recycling and pyrolysis are hot topics.

An award-winning innovation method for tire recycling is crumb rubber devulcanization. The original process was developed by a scholar whose innovation was commercialized by Tyromer Inc. – the Canadian company founded by a national university. What makes devulcanization stand out is the fact that it does not require the application of any chemical solvents. Moreover, Tyromer’s process helps reuse waste tire rubber in new tires and in retreads – this was hardly possible before.