News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

On March 16, 2020 Liberty Tire Recycling – the biggest tire recycling operator in the United States – announced that it acquired a premier tire removal and recycling company Lakin Tire to create a “new national footprint with best-in-class service and a commitment to sustainability.” Liberty Tire Recycling reports that is made the acquisition of Lakin Tire with support from its majority equity sponsor The Carlyle Group. Lakin, headquartered in Santa Fe Springs, California and with operations focused throughout the Western United States and the Northeast, is regarded as one of the most established and technologically advanced tire removal and recycling companies in the United States. Combined, the two companies collect over 180 million tires per year and recycle approximately 2.6 billion pounds of rubber into innovative, sustainable products. Thomas Womble, CEO of Liberty Tire, will continue to lead the combined business, while key leaders of Lakin, including Bob Lakin and Sean Lakin, will take on expanded roles within Liberty to drive continued world-class customer service. Bob Lakin will maintain an equity ownership stake in Liberty.

The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) recently released a report, which sheds light on the current situation and provides forecast for natural rubber (NR) markets. The association reports that the world produced 13.804 million tons of natural rubber in 2019, 1.4% down compared to the annual production volume in 2018, as per the updated estimates available from individual NR producing countries. Whereas the production was anticipated to increase 2.7% to 14.177 million tons in 2020, according to the revised outlook, it witnessed an annualized 5.2% drop in world production during the first two month of the year.

The tyre baler conveyor is an all-new product from Gradeall designed to maximise tyre baling efficiency. The manufacturer reports that the tyre baler conveyor combined with either the MK2 or MK3 tyre baler is the fastest, most user-friendly way to bale large volumes of tyres. Rather than have operators spend valuable time searching for tyres, or walking to a pile of tyres and back to the baler repetitively the conveyor hopper is loaded with tyres via telehandler in a matter of minutes.

TRA reports that a recent significant reduction in often questionable waste tyre exports to the Indian sub-continent has resulted in a return to more legitimate recycling and recovery outcomes of the kind we all want to see. Responsible recycling outcomes of the kind we should all be encouraging do, however, come at a modest cost which can also attract criminal elements who simply charge, collect, then dump said TRA Secretary-General, Peter Taylor. He continued “recycling gate prices for old tyres have risen significantly in the past few months and this fact may well provide new opportunities for the unscrupulous. We must all be on our guard”.

The association reports that together with its end-of-life tyre (ELT) Forum ETRMA organised a Workshop to exchange ideas on the end of life tyres derived materials and the regulatory framework that could improve quality, market uptake as well as establish an internal market for such materials. To this end, ETRMA’s Advisor for End of Life Tyres Management Support, Mr Jose Maria Bermejo presented the proposal of the industry to overcome the current obstacles and promote the use of secondary raw materials from tyres, the association reports.

Tests of a spray-on product using recycled tyres were conducted this February in Australia’s only blast simulation facility. The National Facility for Physical Blast Simulation at the University of Wollongong was hosting trials of a sprayable version of Protectiflex, a cementitious composite material using recycled tyre rubber and fibres. The product has been previously used as cast-in-place and precast construction.

This article tells how Salvadori – the renowned provider of tire recycling solutions and recycling technologies – helped American OTR tire manufacturer efficiently recycle their end-of-life products. Off The Road (OTR) tires usually pose a huge challenge for companies when it comes to their recycling – OTR tires up to 51 inches in diameter previously were not easily downsized. The question was, how to take advantage by turning waste into something of value.

Attempting to support use of alternative energy, Oman made first steps towards converting end-of-life tires to fuel and using them in cement production. Recently, the Oman Environment Holding Company (be'ah) has signed an agreement with Oman Cement to supply TDF – fuels derived from end-of-life tires – to the Oman Cement Company. The agreement was signed by Eng. Tariq bin Ali Al Amri, CEO of be'ah, and Eng. Salem bin Abdullah Al-Hajri, CEO of Oman Cement Company. The memorandum was signed on the February 6 with a number of employees and concerned officials from both sides present at the event.

Bolder Industries recently announced their exclusive partnership agreement with Kleenair Industrial Products Co to be, reportedly, among the first specialty manufacturers of pyrolysis equipment to produce consistent, on-spec, high-quality Bolder Black, reusable synthetic gas and multiple cuts of oil. Bolder Black is the charter product for Bolder industries and replaces petroleum-derived carbon black for the use in creating the most sustainable plastic and rubber products globally. The intellectual property for the technology is co-owned by Kleenair Industrial Products and Bolder Industries.