News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

The European Recycling Industries’ Confederation (EuRIC) – the umbrella organization for European Recycling Industries – has been holding a series of webinars “Recyclers’ Talks” aimed at, among other important topics, end-of-life tire recycling and pyrolysis. On October 5, 2021, EuRIC held a webinar called “End-of-Waste: Time to Move Forward”. Among other topics, the webinar shed light on end-of-life tire management issues and practices.

Michelin is inviting everyone interested in tire recycling and sustainability to take part in the first Workshop of the European BlackCycle project! The AXELERA cluster is a partner of the BlackCycle project, coordinated by Michelin, the objective of which is to create, develop and optimize a complete value chain for recycling end-of-life tires, in the form of material first to reduce the impact on the environment. This free workshop will be an opportunity to present the state of progress of the project but also to discuss with the stakeholders interested and involved in the creation of this value chain. The workshop will be held on November 22, 2021 at MICHELIN CAMPUS RDI in Cebazat, France. To attend the workshop, make sure to register before November 12.

The mining company Anglo American is moving towards a sustainable “zero-waste future” at its five metallurgical coal operations in central Queensland, Australia, through a new collaboration with Novum Energy Australia that will see rubber waste products transformed into usable raw materials. According to the source, end-of-life mining truck tires and conveyor belts from the mine sites will be supplied to Novum, who will convert the rubber into industrial products including heavy and light pyrolysis oils, recovered carbon black, syngas and steel.

Tyre Stewardship Australia recently reported that efforts of its team, combined with a huge work done by the University of Melbourne and PorousLane, now enables to turn end-of-life tires into new flood-free and permeable pavements suitable for lightly trafficked urban surfaces such as footpaths, bike paths, tree protection zones, driveways, residential and commercial developments and parking lots. The video below showcases the environment-friendly pavements that are already lining the streets of Melbourne and Adelaide. The University of Melbourne writes in its press release from October 5, 2021:

State-of-the-art pyrolysis processes are an efficient, viable and sustainable approach for the valorisation of end-of-life tires (ELT) into oil, gas and recovered Carbon Black (rCB). They are thus an important step towards the transition to a low carbon, more sustainable, resource efficient, circular economy in line with the EU Green Deal and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Pyrum Innovations AG ("Pyrum"), a pioneer in the sustainable recycling of end-of-life tires based on its patented pyrolysis technology, has received the first delivery of end-of-life bicycle tires by Ralf Bohle GmbH in connection with the planned cooperation of both companies. With its Schwalbe brand and a turnover of EUR 225 million (2020), Ralf Bohle GmbH ("Bohle") is Europe's market leader for bicycle tires and inner tubes. In September, Pyrum and Bohle had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the objective of which is the long-term operation, expansion and further development of a feedstock recycling system for end-of-life bicycle tires by means of pyrolysis. At the same time, the aim is to use the recovered carbon black (rCB) resulting from the recycling of end-of-life tires as an ecological secondary raw material in the production of new Schwalbe products.

In a landmark commitment, Tyre Stewardship Australia Limited (TSA) recently announced that major OTR tire importers Bearcat, Bridgestone Mining Solutions, Goodyear, Kal Tire, Michelin and Yokohama have committed to joining the voluntary Tyre Product Stewardship Scheme (the Scheme) from January 2022. TSA stresses that some 140,000 tons of OTR tires are sold into the Australian market each year to industries including mining, agriculture, manufacturing, construction and aviation. Regrettably, less than 15 percent of end-of-life tires within this sector are recovered as a resource, with the majority ending up buried on site, dumped or in landfill.

Argus Media recently reported that Spanish trading company Nexolub has signed a 10-year offtake deal with a tire pyrolysis company Life for Tyres (L4T) to market advanced pyrolysis oil from a new plant in Puertollano. The project is expected to be completed in December and, reportedly, will become one of the biggest of its type in Europe. According to the press release by Argus Media, L4T says the €30 million plant will begin production of 10,000 tons per year of pyrolysis oil, made from recycled end-of-life tires, in the first quarter of 2022. The recovered oils can be used as an advanced biofuels feedstock under annex IX of the EU's recast Renewable Energy Directive (Red II).

Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA) reports that more than 1240 end-of-life truck tires have been diverted from landfill, turned into crumb rubber, and used to repair roads across six Tasmanian municipalities in a partnership between Fulton Hogan and Tyre Stewardship Australia. TSA says it is the first-time bitumen modified with end-of-life tire material – which included the equivalent of 40,000 beer bottles of recycled glass, as well as the end-of-life truck tires – has been used in Tasmania. The ground-breaking project paves the way for an expansion of crumb rubber products on roads across the island.