News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

Black Bear Carbon (“BBC”), the Dutch technology provider for recycling end-of-life tire rubber into recovered Carbon Black (rCB) and renewable petrochemicals, has announced that is had successfully completed a first closing of €7.5M , this is the first step in a fundraising campaign of €78M for its new BBC flagship plant at Chemelot Industrial Park, the Netherlands. The investment round was led by Capricorn Partners from the Capricorn Sustainable Chemistry Fund, with support from Invest-NL, joined by current investors; Brightlands Venture Partners, Siam Cement Chemicals and others.

CEMalta will be working on a number of projects and initiatives, including the beverage container refund scheme, end-of-life tires, construction waste, food waste, and textile waste. the country’s agency previously known as the Resource Recovery and Recycling Agency is being renamed to Circular Economy Malta (CEMalta) to promote the continual use of resources.

In spring 2021, recycled rubber flooring goods by North West Rubber (British Columbia, Canada) were rated as "Acceptable for an Operating Room Area" according to a third-party independent cleaning study. According to the results of the third-party testing which highlights the effectiveness of the SportFloor® Stamina line of recycled rubber performance flooring in helping to protect sports complex athletes, visitors, and staff from the risks of microbial contamination. North West Rubber (NWR) commissioned Westech Systems FM Inc. to conduct and report on a third-party independent cleaning audit with the goal of assessing how easy it was to clean and disinfect NWR SportFloor® recycled rubber flooring.

This May, Salvadori – on of the leading technology providers in the field of tire recycling – revealed about its new partnership with Rubberosion and the State of Colorado in the United States, which helps tackle the end-of-life tire recycling problem in Colorado. Below, we are citing Salvadori’s press release. Rubberosion Inc. is referred to as one of the leading providers of value-added end use rubber products for stormwater and erosion control in the United States. Its business began with a vision: find a solution to Colorado’s end-of-life tire problem, which was large tire dumps, one which irrupted in a major tire fire, turning what was considered as an environmental problem into an environmental solution. Over the years, its distribution network grew together with the market demand for their products. To meet the increased production volumes, they started looking for solutions that could help them improve their manufacturing process.

The European Rubber Journal reports that Cabot Corp. – a renowned global producer of carbon black – has seen a significant rise in its second quarter results. The magazine says Cabot “expects the robust and broad-based demand to continue in the second half of the year.” ERJ hightlights that for Cabot, “this has been the second consecutive quarter of record earnings (EBIT) within its Reinforcement Materials segment, which includes the production of rubber carbon black materials.” According to Cabot’s announcement from May 3, 2021, the segment’s earnings rose by 45%, i.e. to $81 million within the first quarter of 2021.

The innovation forum "Scrap Tire Recycling" (AZuR) sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany recently published a large-scale study for its partners. The study is focused on the market positions and requirements of end-of-life tire recyclers and manufacturers of products from recycled tire rubber. Below, we are citing the original article published on the website of AZuR in May 2021. To read the original text in German, please proceed to AZuR’s website.

The European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association – ETRMA – has consolidated data on the management of End of Life Tires for 2019 covering 32 European countries (EU27, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey and UK). According to ETRMA, 94% of end-of-life tires in the 32 countries were collected and treated for material recycling and energy recovery. ETRMA says this situation is quite comparable to the previous years with tire recycling rates fluctuating between 92% and 95%. The European tire industry is committed to an innovative and sustainable economy. End-of-life tires are collected and their treatment is organized across European countries, the vast majority operating under EPR. Secondary raw materials from end-of-life tires are important resources for industries such as construction, automotive and cement.

In 2021, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is continuing undertaking efforts to ban crumb rubber – recycled rubber granulate from shredded end-of-life tires – from artificial turf and playgrounds. ECHA’s intent to restrict the use of crumb rubber started back in 2019 when the organization, allegedly, found a scientific evidence against the use of recycled tire rubber in synthetic turf. Despite ECHA’s assertions, there hasn’t been a single scientific proof of human health risks caused by crumb rubber in other studies and research carried out by numerous research institutions worldwide.

On April 28, 2021, EFG Polymers – a manufacturer of engineered elastomers from the United States – announced that it became completely sustainable. EFG Polymers, a resource recovery company, announces today that it has achieved over 100% sustainability by re-engineering rubber waste and producing new valuable elastomers with no emissions, waste, or by-products. Reusing thermoset rubber waste and returning the resources to new rubber products reduces the collective dependence on virgin resources and can assist the vital rubber industry in improving its sustainability. To learn more about EFG Polymers’ sustainability efforts, please proceed here.