News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

A new legislation that prohibits mounting damaged old tires on automobiles within Ohio, US, will come into force July 1 next year after the state’s governor has signed a bill. According to the legislation, it will become illegitimate to sell tires to further use on roads if there are any damages exposing internal elements, including steel materials; or, if they have been improperly repaired; if their tread depth is less than 1/16-inches; or, if there are bulges.

The TIP plan created in 2005 is partly managed by Bridgestone, Goodyear and Michelin. Other big names, including Pirelli and Continental, are also involved in the initiative. In total, all the stakeholders represent over 60 percent of international tire producers who provide jobs for over 650,000 employees. To keep the project going, once in two years the CEOs meet in Geneva to hold talks.

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.

According to Evonik, it is possible to get valuable products out of recycled tires, thus, it is not correct to treat tires as waste. The business also states that by providing old tires with second life in road projects, they get rid of disposal issue and prevent burning of tires. Additionally, Evonik manufactures products for surfacing roads using mix of processed plastics. The tests and monitoring procedures will be ongoing, however, the authorities now believe that the plastic and rubber roads that contain recycled materials such as tires will prove to be more durable and better in comparison to the conventional asphalt, as the latter has a high CO2 footprint.

The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) has released the Natural Rubber Trends & Statistics for October 2018. According to ANRPC, the world demand of natural rubber (NR) from January 2018 to October 2018 recorded at 11.696 million tonnes, an increase of 5.2% from the same corresponding period a year earlier. While, the world production charted a 5.5% growth to 11.468 million tonnes. This resulted to a short of 228,000 tonnes of NR during the reference period.

Commenting on the removal process of 500,000 scrap tires, Victorian Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said that approximately 10 weeks would be required to complete the clean-up. After the removal, tires will end up at tire recycling plant Tyrerecycle in Melbourne where they will be shredded into crumb rubber and rubber powder or converted into tire-dervied fuel.

Annually, New Zealand generates 5 million scrap tires and the biggest part of them end up at landfills or as waste export. To solve the problem, a company Eneform has developed a low emissions system that has the recycling capacity of 1.5 million scrap tires per year. Currently, the firm seeks expansion within the country and wants to upgrade its recycling capacity up to 5 million tires per annum. To develop its new system, Eneform relied on traditional pyrolisys and transformed it so the company could run a cost-efficient tire recycling plant. Southern Cross Engineering, Petrotec and Hineuru Holdings helped Eneform develop the innovative tire recycling facility.

The USTMA along with other organizations such as Tire and Rubber Association of Canada (TRAC) identifies itself as an advocate for sustainability promoting environmental protection, economic and social development. The association has repeatedly emphasized that it is attempting to advance and support sustainability, including tire recycling practices. This goal was voiced once again by Anne Forristall Luke, USTMA president and CEO during 2018 Rubber Recycling Symposium – the event sponsored by the USTMA, TRAC and its subsidiary eTracks Tire Management Systems.

The possible expansion of end-of-life tire collection and recycling centers in Ireland which previously anchored silage pit covers has been discussed by International Fertilizer Association (IFA) President Joe Healy and new minister in charge of environmental regulation Sean Canney. Following Canney’s visit to Anthenry-based center in November, IFA president stressed that the minister witnessed its successful functioning and recognized that almost 800 farmers provided the recycling facility with more than 1,200 tons of tires on a single day.