News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

Novum Energy Australia managing director Rowan Kendall said the company’s target was to process 19,000 tons of rubber per annum. This would produce approximately nine million liters of fuel oil, 4500 ton of recycled carbon black, 2500 tons of waste steel and excess syngas for electricity generation. According to Kendall, this was an effective way to ensure used tires were being reclaimed in a safe and sustainable manner.

Ecopneus – an Italian end-of-life tire management authority – reports that over 220 thousand tons of end of life tires were collected by Ecopneus in 2019 which is 5% bigger compared to the authority’s official target. Ecopneus says their work helped avoid 371 thousand tons of emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere and return 337 thousand tons of material into the production loop. In addition, the authority mentions that it helped reduce imports of raw materials for 112 million euros. The end-of-life tire management system is referred to as a sector of excellence for the development of the country's circular economy and for environmental protection.

Weibold is offering a 10% disount for everyone who is willing to attend the Recovered Carbon Black Congress 2020. To register with a discount, please enter Weibold's special voucher code "RCB20WD"! The conference will be held online on September 9-10 across two consecutive afternoon sessions (from 14:00 - 17:30 CEST), and will bring a cutting-edge program of the latest developments and key industry insights from experts at the top of their field.

Rosehill Rail reports that its conical anti-trespass panels made of recycled tire rubber have been deployed in Melbourne, Australia to help reduce the number of unauthorized people accessing tracks and other prohibited areas. Trespassing on the 1000 km+ of railroad track which makes up Melbourne’s rail network causes more than 83 days of train delays each year and affects more than 25,000 services. To improve the passenger experience, Metro Trains Melbourne are trialing rubber anti-trespass panels at five stations across the city as part of their holistic anti-trespassing strategy.

Due to the global pandemic caused by the outbreak of Covid-19, the tire pyrolysis industry has diverse opinions about the fate of recovered carbon black (rCB) produced by pyrolysis plants. As rCB business largely depends on market dynamics of the virgin carbon black, one needs to analyze the carbon black industry to forecast rCB business opportunities. In this article, we would like to reassure our industry members engaged in pyrolysis and rCB production that despite disastrous impact of Covid-19, there are strong signs of recovery. Below, we cite articles recently published by the European Rubber Journal (ERJ), which give a great deal of hope to the industry.

The company receives truck tires from local businesses, separates the steel from the rubber and crushes the rubber into a crumb that is fine enough for roads, playground surfaces and rubber ramps. Mr. Pennington says that the company recycles 100% of tires arriving to the facility. The general manager said while other companies exported old tires for recycling, their aim was to recycle material in the Western Australia. According to the general manager, after cutting the tire walls, they stripped the rubber from the bead, extracting the steel to go to scrap metal recycling.

“Regulated product stewardship helps put the responsibility for waste and what happens to products at the end of their useful life on manufacturers, importers, retailers and users, rather than on communities, councils, neighbourhoods and nature,” Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage said. Currently, New Zealand has 15 voluntary accredited product stewardship schemes in place. However, Sage said the voluntary schemes have had limited success in minimising waste for targeted products. In case with end-of-life tyres, the voluntary schemes may not be very efficient.

The ANRPC reports that the Chinese economy grew by 3.2% in during the second quarter of 2020 (April to June) by beating the expectations after the 6.8% fall in the first quarter. By providing evidence of improving manufacturing activity, the manufacturing Purchasing Mangers’ Index (PMI) of China touched 51.1 in July. In the U.S., in a major initiative to revitalize the economy with expanded employment benefits ahead of the presidential elections to be held in November, a trillion-dollar coronavirus aid package is in the process of approval. Driven by stimulus policies and improving economic activities in China, the U.S., and other major consuming countries, the world consumption of natural rubber (NR) is anticipated to enter into positive territory by increasing 2.6% year-on-year growth during the three months from August to October 2020 after the 15.0% fall posted in the first half of the year, and 2.7% fall in July.

Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA) reports that Australia’s largest trial of asphalt produced from recycled tyres across six Adelaide council areas is set to pay dividends for the environment and the South Australian jobs market, paving the way for a new asphalt manufacturing facility worth around $5 million in Lonsdale. Adelaide-based Topcoat Asphalt expects to significantly boost local production of crumb rubber asphalt using waste tyres following the trial, funded by Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA), with support from Tyrecycle Australia.