News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

ELDAN reports that it has many interesting internal and external projects in the pipeline for 2019. “We predict that 2019 will be a very good year for ELDAN and the recycling industry in general. The interest in tyre and cable recycling equipment will continue to increase. In addition to 2018, we also see a large increase in the demand for WEEE/e-waste recycling equipment. We are currently developing small capacity WEEE recycling lines to meet regional requests.” comments Dr. Reftman. “At the moment, the production team in Denmark is working full speed to deliver orders for customers. To meet the heavy increase in orders, we are planning to expand the production facility there.”

Azerbaijani authorities will now seek investors from abroad to carry out recycling initiatives, including scrap tire recycling. This is expected to boost the national recycling sector. On March 12, ADA University has hosted a special event dedicated to the recycling plant project in Balakhani Industrial Park; the university has teamed up with the managing company Tamiz Shahar OJSC, and this step was endorsed by its chairman Etibar Abbasov. However, according to Abbasov, Azerbaijan faces challenges connected to tire recycling.

A final order to liquidate the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (Redisa) – a body responsible for tire collection and tire recycling – issued two years ago has been repealed by the South African Supreme Court of Appeal following numerous allegations that the project was involved in corrupt schemes. Prior to reaching the verdict, the judges had a dispute as the majority claimed that there was no just reason for the environmental affairs minister Edna Molewa to bring the case to court due to lacking evidence that Redisa’s directors and the initiative’s ally Kusaga Taka Consulting (KT) conducted any violations.

George Monbiot, a columnist for The Guardian stated that Britain was avoiding tire recycling in the country and was sending instead huge cargos of scrap tires to India. Once the exported waste tires reached facilities in India, they were processed into fuel by means of pyrolysis in most cases. According to the journo’s study, the British authorities haven’t been checking that scrap tires actually were handled at the legal premises and were absolutely safe to the environment. Thus, he concluded that the tire processing was not being monitored carefully enough.

In its recent press release CM Shredders reports that new ownership, new products, and new verticals fuel CM Shredders technology and innovations. It says that CM Shredders, the manufacturer of advanced industrial shredders and tire recycling systems, will open its new test lab and R&D demo facility in North America. Located at its headquarters in Sarasota, Florida, the new 4000 ft2 R&D, and demo facility will feature an array of both single shaft and dual shaft shredding systems from the company’s versatile product range.

Enviro – a renowned tire pyrolysis equipment manufacturer who targets recovered carbon black and fuel oil – reports that its pyrolysis technology is in high demand in the North American market. The company currently has active memorandums of understanding (MoU’s) with three different parties in the tire recycling industry, as well as ongoing discussions with additional interested parties. CEO Thomas Sörensson and the Enviro team recently returned home from the US where they visited, among others, partners in the states of New York and Texas where recycling plants are planned to be built. “There are several reasons why we are more active than ever in North America. The market’s need for carbon black is expected to increase as the establishment of virgin production is becoming increasingly difficult due to stricter regulations and penalties, implemented to overcome the environmental problems created by the existing carbon black production”, says Thomas Sörensson.

The Latin American & Caribbean Tyre Expo 2019 that takes place in Panama will be held earlier than previously arranged – on June 26-28, after Panama’s new convention center, Amador, has failed to meet construction deadlines. Latin Expo Group L.L.C also warned that even though it was earlier advertised that the event is scheduled to take place simultaneously with the Latin Auto Parts Expo, these plans had been canceled with the latter being rescheduled for July 17-19. The Atlapa Convention Center will serve as a venue where the expo will be hosted.

According to the company’s chairman, tire retreading sector creates huge amounts of tire waste and this material is one of the firm’s dominant products for exports as it can be successfully recycled to produce crumb rubber infill for sport fields, tire-derived oil, molded products for flooring, insulation panels and even shoe soles.

Even though studies and researches on the safety of tire-derived crumb rubber infill in artificial turf prove there is ho hazard to human health, debates over the issue are going further. In the beginning of March, Rubber and Plastic News reported that a bill before the Maryland General Assembly had added a new dimension to the controversy surrounding tire-derived crumb rubber used as infill in synthetic athletic turf.