News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

According to the press release of SIGNUS – a Spanish end-of-life tire management authority – from July 2021, during 2020, the organization managed 150,228 tons of end-of-life tires which it turned into new useful products for different applications. Of the total amount of tires collected, about 12% went for reuse (second-use or retreading), 35.2% were for energy recovery and the remaining 52.8% was recycled in the different tire recycling plants in Spain. Among the main uses for the material obtained from the end-of-life tires in 2020, there are 21,660 tons for the installation of about 215 football fields, 14,637 tons for the construction of approximately 2,900 playgrounds and 2,202 tons that were used to pave some 200 kilometers of highways, among others.

Fraunhofer Institute writes that until recently, end-of-life tires have been used mainly for recovering energy sources: Only small proportions of the carbon black contained in these tires are recycled, since mineral ash accounts for around 20 percent of its content. A new process developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP is able to isolate almost all of this ash – allowing both the carbon black and the minerals from the ash to be reused.

SIGNUS Ecovalor – a Spanish end-of-life tire managaement authority – reports that the American tire manufacturer, Cooper Tire & Rubber Company Europe Ltd, joins the organization with the aim of guaranteeing the correct environmental management of the tires they put on the market, when those are at the end of their useful life.

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The Renewable Transport Fuel Association of the UK (RTFA) reports that its thirteen members and Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) of the UK have built a collaboration to promote greater uptake of pyrolysis, an advanced chemical recycling technology. To achieve this, they are funding a consultancy to contribute to the Environment Agency’s review of recovery options for end-of-life tires. Specifically, the group is seeking to demonstrate that pyrolysis is a sufficiently thorough and environmentally-safe process, and that the products should be classified as resources, not waste.

SDAB – a Swedish tire recycling organization – decided to go its own way and create one of the world’s leading recycling organizations. Thus, SDAB reports that on January 1, 2023, Swedish Tire Recycling will change its model and will be responsible for the Swedish tire recycling system under its own auspices. The organization therefore terminates a long-term agreement with the contractor Ragn-Sells. SDAB’s CEO Fredrik Ardefors says that the new model gives the company an entirely different opportunity to work actively to increase the benefit to society and at the same time reduce the impact on the environment.

In our last article (Part I) we addressed the question of how the advantages of a classic batch-reactor process design can be combined with those of a continuous process mode. In the current article (Part II) we address some characteristics and advantages of a batch reactor regarding the thermochemical reactions and their effects on the end products. We refer to the extensive scientific literature and to the findings of successful companies in the industry.

The U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) and the Ray and University of Missouri welcome all interested parties to a webinar to discuss the findings from a joint research project on the performance, environmental impacts and benefits of rubber modified asphalt and its growing potential to enhance the life and performance of U.S. infrastructure. The webinar will be held at 11 am Eastern Time on July 22, 2021 Register to learn more about the benefits of using ground rubber made from scrap tires in asphalt and the further research needed on this promising solution for roads and highways across the country.

A subsidiary of the prominent automotive manufacturer Audi – The Audi Environmental Foundation – has started working with Technical University of Berlin to filter our tire wear particles containing microplastics and other substances which, reportedly, harm the environment. More information about tire wear particles and how microplastics harms the environment can be found here. In its press release, Audi writes: “The Audi Environmental Foundation is involved in several projects to protect bodies of water. In the URBANFILTER project, Audi is developing optimized sediment filters for urban runoff in collaboration with the Technical University of Berlin. They trap microplastics in tire wear and other pollutant particles before they are flushed into sewers and waterways along with rainwater. A modular system consisting of nine different filter modules ensures that they achieve the best filtration results across a wide range of road and traffic conditions. Intelligently connecting data from various sources ensures that the filters are serviced and cleaned at the right time.”