News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

Crude oil prices are testing sub $20 territory, some analysts predict further decreases. This puts immense pressures on tire pyrolysis operators who depend on fuel oil sales as their main source of revenue. Experts at Weibold have engineered a cost effective upgrade program for batch reactors that will: • convert your reactor to continuous processing • add heat cycles to improve output and separation • allow you to keep processing the same feedstock • increase capacity 3 - 4 fold • reduce energy costs

A trial organised by Transport for Victoria saw the introduction of OLEXOCRUMB®, the most recent product innovation from Puma Energy’s Global Bitumen Technology Centre in Altona, Victoria (Australia). The new asphalt binder was trialled in close collaboration with Boral Asphalt, as part of the Boral/Puma technology program. The company reports that OLEXOCRUMB® was specifically formulated to comply with existing Australian roads polymer modified binders (PMB) specifications.

The association reports that the world consumption of NR fell 19.6%, year-over-year, during the first quarter of 2020, as per the preliminary estimates and forecasts of individual countries. The consumption anticipated during the second quarter is down 1.5% compared with the same quarter a year ago. At the same time, the world production of NR increased by 1.8%, year-over-year, during the first quarter of 2020, according to preliminary estimates and forecasts of individual countries. The production anticipated during the second quarter is up 3.6% compared with the same quarter a year ago.

In the end of this article we make an estimation of a possible annual market size of recovered carbon black, modestly assuming virgin carbon black substitution rate at 20%. Hint: numbers suggest that recovered carbon black production is a profitable business rich in opportunities. Traditionally Carbon Black (CB) has been used as both a reinforcing agent and filler in automobile tires. Along with better understanding of CB’s unique properties as a material, it is presently used in a much wider range of applications across a large variety of products – car tires, conveyor belts, inks, plastic pipes, rubber mats, shoe soles and so forth. Virgin CB contains only trace amounts of impurities and carbon content is very close to 100%.

Logan City Council in Queensland, Australia, reports that is has teamed with Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA) to conduct trials of a new eco-friendly road surface. According to Logan City Council, the surface is a combination of recycled end-of-life tyres and reclaimed asphalt. Installation of the new surface on Lagoon Road, Carbrook is scheduled for this April. TSA has committed $150,000 to the trial and additional laboratory testing, which aims to prove that the new surface will be as good as, or better than, standard road sealing. Logan City Council Director of Road Water Infrastructure Daryl Ross pinpoints Council is always looking at innovative ways to deliver better roads.

In April 2020, Weibold is hosting online webinars designed for anyone interested in tire recycling and pyrolysis business. This month, our three webinars will cover not only introductory topics, but also will help established pyrolysis companies focused on recovered carbon black, who already operate on the market and would like to strengthen its business positions. Special topic: Recovered carbon black markets (April 22, 2020) One of the webinars hosted by Weibold will be devoted to recovered carbon black (rCB) markets, where Weibold’s special guest, Martin von Wolfersdorff, will be the speaker. Martin von Wolfersdorff is a world-class expert in pyrolysis and recovered carbon black as well as marketing of specialty chemical materials. He is deeply involved in the industry, serves one of the organizers of the first global conference on recovered carbon black and has been supporting multinational companies in the tire pyrolysis sector, the tire industry, tire trade organizations, rubber and the plastics industries.

Grupo Soledad, a parent company of the Spanish tire retreading firm Insa Turbo, has grown in the last years and shown some great results in circular economy advancement. It produces tire retreads at Insa Turbo’s retread manufacturing plant at Aspe that actually has expanded and now serves not only as a facility where retreads are made. The Group has its tire retreading plant — annually, the plant turns back to life some 200,000 tires of various types and makes OTR retreads. The corporation also looks for the ways to boost retread sale. For instance, Grupo Soledad tries to do so by teaming up with Continental that sends all its casing to the group’s site at Aspe, so the two can produce quality retreads.

Tyre Stewardship Australia reports that in 2019 it engaged Randell Environmental Consulting in association with Brock Baker Environmental Consulting to complete an analysis of the consumption and fate of mining industry Off-The-Road tyres. This analysis followed the completion of the report commissioned by Tyre Stewardship Australia titled End-Of-Life Tyres Supply Chain and Fate Analysis (REC 2019) by Randell Environmental Consulting.

British branch of Schwalbe Tyres is set to launch an inner tube recycling plan — it will team up with bike shops that will conduct collection of used inner tubes; the collected materials will be returned to Schwalbe to undergo reprocessing. The company’s plan seeks to help retailers show to their consumers that their businesses are environment-friendly and sustainable. Schwalbe also targets bike riders by asking them to bring used inner tubes to special shops that collaborate with the company.