News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

Oman is currently challenged by end-of-life tires as new stockpiles continue to accumulate. The two most troubled areas are Barka and Sur. Even though Oman has functioning tire recycling programs, they are not enough, reportedly, as the scope of the problem is rather big. It is noteworthy that Oman´s neighbour, Kuwait, is also suffering from similar problem with scrap tire dumps.

The U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA), in partnership with the University of Missouri and The Ray, a nonprofit proving ground for sustainable transportation technologies, published this July a state of knowledge report that assessed existing research on the economic, performance and environmental benefits of using ground tire rubber (GTR) in asphalt. The report finds that rubber modified asphalt is a resilient pavement solution to rebuild America’s roadways and a promising sustainable and circular end-of-life market for scrap tires. The report also provides recommendations for additional research to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the technology’s impact.

Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA) has presented a new innovative project that coverts scrap tires into durable, quality concrete for the Sports Turf Industry. This solution for recycled tires has been named Golfelx, the TSA reported on its social media accounts. Golflex uses waste tires and recycles them into rubber crumb that is used in golf development projects. This application is ingeniously used in bunkers as it can improve sand bunker drainage and it has a positive environmental impact.

A German recycler Stadtwerke Osnabrück has revealed plans to construct a tire pyrolysis plant that will consider sustainability principles and process 100 percent of scrap tires in the Germany city of Osnabrück. The plant will be given a name of Pieswerk, and it will rely on a special thermo-chemical process of pyrolysis during recycling. This will help to recover raw materials from scrap tires. The Stadtwerke supervisory board has already given the "green light" to pursue the Pieswerk plans. Stadtwerke CEO Christoph Hüls stressed that the project is still undergoing early stages but his company wanted to make the information public in order to be transparent. He also emphasized that pyrolysis is not well-known among the public but this process “has proven itself many times and that many will certainly also use at home – for self-cleaning of the oven."

On July 31, 2021, an online newspaper Arab Times Online reported that since November 2020, the Environment Public Authority (EPA) in Kuwait has made extensive efforts to end the more than 30-year-old crisis of indiscriminately storing old vehicles tires in the desert of Kuwait, particularly in the Jahra governorate, which has contributed to wasting public money over the past years, according to Al-Qabas Daily. The more than 52 million tires is the most prominent obstacle to a huge housing project which the state seeks to implement in the suburb of southern Saad Al- Abdullah. Only eight months after the EPA received alternative land in Salmi to transfer these tires, near the tire recycling factories, the EPA was able, according to an official in the authority, to remove 95% of the tires, which were considered a major obstacle to starting the housing project.

British police in West Mercia has started the implementation of a new initiative aimed at illegally dumped tires. This move comes amid an increase of incidents of unsanctioned dumping during lockdown. Over the past 12 months, over 1,000 scrap tires were left as waste on land owned by Bradford Estates.

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This article should give an overview over the recent development trends regarding the options for an upgrade of the tire-derived oil (TDO) with chemical and physical techniques. In two previous articles we have already dealt with the production of limonene and highlighted the advantages of fractional distillation of TDO. Introduction Refiners around the world are looking for alternatives to producing fuels from petrochemicals only. This is due to expected future declines in crude oil reserves combined with significant fuel demand growth expectations throughout the world and increasing environmental awareness among the population.

Black Bear Carbon (“BBC”), the Dutch technology provider for recycling end-of-life tire rubber into recovered Carbon Black (rCB) and renewable petrochemicals, has announced that is had successfully completed a first closing of €7.5M , this is the first step in a fundraising campaign of €78M for its new BBC flagship plant at Chemelot Industrial Park, the Netherlands. The investment round was led by Capricorn Partners from the Capricorn Sustainable Chemistry Fund, with support from Invest-NL, joined by current investors; Brightlands Venture Partners, Siam Cement Chemicals and others.