News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

South Korean waste treatment and raw material recycling company LD Carbon (CEO Baek, Seong-mun and Hwang, Yong-kyung) announced that it had signed an MOU with Japan’s Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. for the commercialization of sustainable tire raw materials. Sumitomo Rubber Industries is a global tire manufacturer head quartered in Japan, ranked global No.5 in terms of sales (approximately 7.25 billion USD) LD Carbon and Sumitomo Rubber Industries held a business agreement ceremony at the headquarters of Sumitomo Rubber Industries located in Kobe, Japan on November 18 and promised to cooperate in the commercialization of recovered carbon black and pyrolysis oil.

To harmonise enforcement in each EU Member State and check the current level of compliance regarding obligations imposed on industry by the REACH, CLP and PIC regulations, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) installed a forum which coordinates various enforcement projects. One of the main projects are the REACH-EN-FORCE (REF) projects. The REF-projects are carried out by inspectors based in the national authorities in the participating Member States. The resulting information is collected by ECHA and the Forum Working Group. A final report on the findings of the REF-project is then produced. Ultimately, the goal of the REF-projects is to improve the quality of enforcement in the Member States but also to improve the compliance of registrants with the REACH, CLP, and PIC regulations.

Weibold's team was recently enriched by a Senior Pyrolysis Consultant with a vast experience in the end-of-life tire pyrolysis business – Henry Kim. Henry Kim is a business executive professional, Co-Founder and Former CEO of Anothen WTE, a tire pyrolysis company operating in South Korea. Henry has over 20 years of business development experience with expertise in all aspects of resources and renewable energy, as well as solid waste management projects. He has fully managed several sizable tire pyrolysis factories worldwide from construction to operations to financial assessment and contract negotiations. Today, Henry is a recognized authority on renewable energy, resource recovery such as rCB production, municipality incinerating and environmental technologies, including their applications and product sales markets.

Every year, millions of tons of rubber waste, including tires, reach the end of their lives and become a major environmental challenge. Disposing of end-of-life tires due to their quantity and durability is an environmental and economic problem. These tires are a toxic, hardly biodegradable material due to the cross-linked rubber structure and the presence of stabilisers and other additives. According to the Central Statistical Office (GUS) data from 2019, about 3.8 million tons of end-of-life car tires are accumulated in special landfills in Poland, and their number is still growing. Only 30% of tires are recycled in Poland, compared to 100% in Denmark and 60% in Portugal.

Fornnax – one of the World's leading manufacturer of shredding and recycling equipments with headquarters in India – has recently opened an all-new sales office that will focus on exports. “Our overseas commitments are increasing, leading us to open a sales office in the commercial hub of Ahmedabad (Gujarat) that is dedicated to international sales,” informed Jignesh Kundariya, Director, Fornnax Technology. Fornnax is currently concentrating on the markets in Australia and the Middle East. Companies like Tyre Collection and 7star Tyre PTY, both based in Australia, are already receiving equipment from Fornnax. Another important project, involving the shipping of an entire recycling plant to Mauritius, has already been completed.

Taking forward its commitment to sustainability, Indian tire manufacturer Apollo Tyres has partnered with Tyromer Inc, a leader in non-chemical devulcanization of end-of-life tires. Tyromer Inc, through their Indian associate, Tyromer India LLP, is committed to supplying recycled rubber material, produced using its environmentally sustainable processes, to Apollo Tyres. Announcing the partnership with Tyromer, P K Mohamed, Chief Advisor, R&D, Apollo Tyres Ltd, said “This partnership with Tyromer is a step towards achieving our sustainability goals, and it also enables us to honour our Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

Pyrum Innovations AG (Pyrum), a pioneer in the sustainable recycling of end-of-life tires based on its patented, unique pyrolysis technology, announces the first delivery of recovered carbon black (rCB) to Ralf Bohle GmbH with its Schwalbe brand. The rCB is obtained from used bicycle tires that Schwalbe collects from specialist dealers throughout Germany with its "Schwalbe Recycling System". Subsequently, Pyrum with its pyrolysis plant in Dillingen takes over the mechanical processing as well as the pyrolytic recycling of the used tires. Thus, Schwalbe is now starting production of the first bicycle tire to use rCB completely. The tire is to be presented in June 2023 at the world's largest bicycle trade fair Eurobike in Frankfurt and will then be available in stores.

Continental – a premium tire manufacturer – builds basketball court from recycled Extreme E tires. According to the company’s latest report, Continental donates 400 square meters of paving stones for youth basketball court in Hanover-Linden. "Turning racing tires into living space" - under this motto, a new basketball court is being built in Hanover to give children from the surrounding area a lively place to play, run and train. Continental is providing the necessary rubber paving stones as a donation. The paving stones are made from recycled racing tires from the Extreme E electric racing series, which Continental has been supporting as a founding partner since 2019.

The team of Weibold, a tire recycling and tire pyrolysis consulting company based in Vienna, Austria, is speaking at a webinar organized by the International Institute of Synthetic Rubber Producers (IISRP). The webinar Trends & Opportunities for Circular Raw Materials from the Tire Waste Stream will be conducted by Andreas Kyriakou, Senior Partner at Weibold, and Claus Lamer, Senior Pyrolysis Consultant at Weibold. The webinar will be available in two sessions: Session I: December 7th - 9am CET / 5pm JST and Session II: December 7th - 9am CT US / 4pm CET. To register for the webinars, please proceed to the IISRP website using links above.