News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

Contec S.A., a startup recovering industrial raw materials from used tires, has raised EUR 10 million in their latest funding round. These funds will be used to expand the efficiency of Contec's plant (Szczecin, Poland) almost threefold. Two investors are providing the funds: HiTech ASI, the corporate venture capital fund of Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, and the Warsaw Equity Group, which is the majority shareholder. Contec S.A. invests in increasing processing capacity The lead investor of the round is HiTech ASI, managed by VINCI - a subsidiary of Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego. The second investor is Contec's major shareholder, the Warsaw Equity Group. The funds obtained (EUR 8 million - HiTech ASI and EUR 2 million - Warsaw Equity Group) will be used to increase the processing capacity of Contec's Szczecin plant. Once completed, the plant will be able to nominally process 33,000 tons of used tires per year – three times more than today. In addition, the modernization will increase the production capacity of post-pyrolysis oil and recovered carbon black.

As per the Tyre Recovery Association’s (TRA) press release, following strenuous lobbying by the TRA to persuade regulators to do much more to prevent rogue operators using T8 exemptions as a cover for the illegitimate handling of Britain’s end-of-life tyres, DEFRA announced in February that it would act to end the current exemptions regime. The TRA welcomed this news but has urged DEFRA Secretary of State Thérèse Coffey MP to now act speedily, pointing out that Scotland had already moved to eliminate exemptions fully seven years ago. In a response received from Rebecca Pow MP, DEFRA Minister for Environmental Quality and Resilience the TRA is encouraged to learn that it is also the wish of government to now see swift progress in finally ending exemptions in both England and Wales and is moving to the necessary affirmative legislation to amend the 2016 Environmental Permitting Regulations. See a copy of the letter below:

Zeppelin Systems entered into another important partnership in the mechanical recycling sector on February 7, 2023. The Italian Technology group formed by RubberJet and Vertech specialized in recycling particularly large scrap tires, for example from trucks and construction and mining machinery. High-quality rubber recyclates are made from scrap tires measuring up to four meters in size, which can later be used to manufacture new tires. According to Zeppelin Systems, the patented and proprietary method is 100% environmentally friendly. According to current figures from the AZuR network (innovation forum for scrap tire recycling, of which Zeppelin Systems is a member), around 3.5 million tons of scrap tires are generated in Europe each year. In Germany alone, around 550,000 tons of scrap tires were accrued in 2021. If every scrap tire in Europe was recycled, around 2.45 million tons of CO2 emissions would be saved.

On March 14 2023, Reoil Sp. z o.o. – a company recycling end-of-life tires using continuous pyrolysis process, announced it had signed an LOI with Japan’s Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd – a global tire manufacturer headquartered in Japan – for the commercialization of recovered carbon black (rCB). Through this agreement, the two companies will jointly develop products allowing Reoil’s recovered carbon black to partially replace virgin carbon blacks that produced from fossil fuels. About Reoil Reoil was one of the world’s pioneers in developing a successful continuous pyrolysis technology, which it implemented in its first end-of-life tire recycling plant in Bukowno (Małopolskie, Poland) yet in 2015.

Michelin, a leader in sustainability and innovation, today announced a $300 million CAD investment into its Canadian operations to accelerate sustainable mobility and improve its environmental footprint. The investment, part of Michelin’s global growth strategy, will see the installation of new technologies and equipment in Michelin’s three Nova Scotia production facilities to respond to market evolution. This includes manufacturing tires for the growing electric vehicle (EV) segment; larger rim size tires for passenger and light truck vehicles; as well as improved fuel efficiency for commercial trucks. In addition, the electrification of key parts of the manufacturing process will reduce carbon emissions at the plants.

Zeppelin Systems GmbH has partnered with French waste-tire sorting company Regom to deliver integrated tire recycling systems employing artificial intelligence (AI) technology. According to Zeppelin Systems’press release, every three seconds, a fully automatic tire sorting machine determines the future of a used car tire; therefore, the French company Regom's technology manages around 800 tires per hour. This is made possible with the help of AI, which evaluates tire sidewall images at lightning speed after measurement and determines exact features and further use of scrap tires. The results are a high-accuracy detection rate of the tire’s brand, model, profile, size and wear.

According to the Rubber World Magazine, Tokai Carbon CB announced that its Addis, LA facility is certified to the ISCC (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification) Plus standard, allowing supply of sustainable carbon black. Tokai’s Borger, TX facility was the first carbon black plant in the world to achieve ISCC Plus certification in early 2022. This certification allows Tokai to provide sustainable carbon blacks from two plants using a mass balance process. The ISCC Plus standard uses a mass balance approach to enable users of circular and bio-based feedstocks to certify their products corresponding to the amount of these feedstocks consumed. Tokai Carbon CB currently uses a circular tire pyrolysis oil from ISCC Plus certified suppliers to produce sustainable carbon black declarations that customers are purchasing to produce sustainable consumer products.

*** Webinar recording inside *** The webinar "Upgrading Tire Pyrolysis Oils for Fuels and Chemicals Applications" was held by Topsoe on February 28. The high participation (200+ attendees) shows that the tire pyrolysis industry is interested in innovative technology solutions for upgrading pyrolysis oil.

A "controlled withdrawal" from the Russian market has been declared by Continental AG in response to the challenges caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. During the annual financial results press conference on March 8, Continental’s CEO Nicolai Setzer said that the invasion "driven up prices for goods, raw materials, and energy". This, according to Setzer, is the reason of the withdrawal. “This includes selling our business operations in Russia – such as our plant in Kaluga. We are already at an advanced stage of the sale process here. The regulatory approvals required to ensure its successful conclusion have not been made yet”, said Nicolai Setzer.