News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

After almost two years since the automotive giant Michelin has acquired Lehigh, a company specializing in recycled tire-derived micronized rubber powder (MRP) production, the majority of the its customers are still happy with the service, Kedar Murthy, vice president of Lehigh, said while giving a speech at the Tire Technology Expo 2019 last month. Following the acquisition, Lehigh preserved its name and it managed to keep trust of its customers, says Murthy.

A new research and development initiative is being worked on by a number of companies that seek recycling scrap tires into valuable products with the help of graphene. The ambitious two-year project led by three firms, Haydale, ARTIS and Trelleborg Antivibration Solutions, receives support of The Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) which is a direct partner of Innovative UK.

A special committee on recovered carbon black (rCB) at ASTM International has introduced its first standard defining conditions for the rCB industry. The standard comes at a time when carbon black is still viewed as somewhat new recycled merchandise that the expanding commercial tire and plastics sectors are using, one of the ASTM members pointed out.

From the very beginning of this year and up until now, RecyBEM has provided authorization to twenty scrap tire collectors in the Netherlands. Their certification will be valid for three years. To attain the certification, the colleting companies had to prove that they were meeting the standards demanded by RecyBEM and could control fire hazards – this is a must for all companies that consider pursuing the authorization in scrap tire collection.

A North Canterbury paddock in New Zealand keeps on witnessing unstable growth and decline of scrap tires that are being stockpiled at the Racecourse Rd site. The most recent data presented by Environment Canterbury (ECan) show that a great drop in scrap tires was recorded previous month, however, this decline could be mostly attributed to an earlier survey error.

China’s Henan Province now has a tire recycling facility with an annual processing capacity of 100,000 tons of tires – it can recycle scrap tires and not pollute the environment – this move helps the Asian country reinforce the sustainable trends in economy. The new facility developed by Chinese tire-producer Doublestar Group and ten universities, with Southeast University leading the research, is located in Runan County and is aimed at fighting problems that come from environmental pollution as the Chinese tire recycling system, reportedly, has long been associated with pollution.

Chinese scientists discovered a groundbreaking method to treat tire rubber waste eliminating the harmful nature of 2-(methylthio)-bezothiazole (MTBT) – a toxic chemical-component of tires threatening human health that is being released when rubber meets the surfaces. What’s more, the scholars went beyond that and found a way how to benefit from the element – they created an organic semiconductor based on it.

The Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (Redisa) – the main authority formerly responsible for scrap tire collection and recycling in the country – expressed its commitment to restoring its work after, earlier this year, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) upturned an order seeking shut down of the body issued two years ago. According to SCA judgment cited by Redisa, the now late ex-minister Edna Molewa reportedly began the court trial with an aim to eliminate the group using contradictions in order to get access to the recycling initiative’s assets.

The Department of Veterinary Studies of the University of Perugia in association with the Italian Ecopneus and Unione Italiani Sport Per Tutti (UISP) conducted a research in which they found that horse-riding surface that contains recycled rubber can serve as outstanding an material if one wants to train and relax using it.