News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

Every year, Australia is being threatened by 20 million tires that are dumped at landfills, thus, they pose danger to human safety and environment due to potential fire outbreak and contamination. To tackle the challenge, The New South Wales Environmental Authority (EPA) has endorsed the construction of the first green tire recycling plant; it will operate in Warren, northwest of Dubbo. Scrap tires there will be recycled into valuable products such as oil, steel and carbon.

One of many applications of fuel oil derived from scrap tires by means of pyrolysis is marine fuel. Tire pyrolysis operators, therefore, should be aware of changes in regulations introduced to maritime transportation. The main issue here is sulphur content which is usually rather high in tire pyrolysis oil. Starting next year IMO 2020 global regulation cap, will require all naval vessels to use fuel that contains sulphur of no more than 0.5%. This is set by Regulation 14.1.3, MARPOL Annex VI.

South Carolina’s Greenville is hosting the 8th Scrap Tire Recycling Conference on December 4-5 this year; the most dominant tire producing state in the US expects to unite the industry’s leaders and key players and to become an outstanding platform for networking. The conference is organized by Scrap Tire Research and Education Foundation (STREF). One of the conference’s sponsors is the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA); additionally, the event receives support of the South Carolina Department of Commerce.

Cement company Argos belonging to a larger Colombian conglomerate used over 75,000 tons of waste as energy source last year – this amount represents all waste, including scrap tires, that a city with population of 200,000 generates annually. Moreover, the company’s alternative fuel control system at cement plant in Cartagena uses scrap tires and helped increase co-processing capacity of Regional Colombia by 200%. Following the success, the company signed an official document in which it set forth its commitment to sustainability vowing to rely on alternative fuels, including scrap tire rubber, received via recycling.

U.S. state of Kentucky has been handling scrap tires by establishing the Waste Tire Trust Fund that gets its money from $2 fees imposed on each new tire when it is purchased. Thanks to the fund, the state manages five million of waste tires each year sending them to Champlin Tire Recycling in Kansas where the waste is transformed into valuable ADA-accessible products. They are later applied in playgrounds and trails construction, as well as in landscaping projects.

On November 11-15 this year, one of the most industrialized cities of Mexico, Queretaro, is hosting the XV Latin American Conference on Rubber Technology that will also shed light on future and potential developments in tire recycling in North and South America. It is anticipated that the event will unite representatives of public sector and businesses; thus, it will become a sound platform for networking where visitors could offer their services and products. According to the event’s website, the biggest companies representing the recycling sector will attend the conference.

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On the subject of tire waste and issues surrounding Off The Road (OTR) tire recycling, a company in the United States is developing machines to tackle these problems one slice at a time. These behemoth tires are piling up in mining operations across the globe and are increasingly at the forefront of tire waste management discussions. Eagle International builds machines that process all sizes of tires, from ATV tires all the way up to 59/80R63. According to the company, the crown jewel of the Eagle line of equipment is the OTR Downsizing System.

With recycling and sustainability making headlines in the mainstream news, recovered carbon has ever growing market potential. Its enhanced use would lead to reduction of CO2 footprint, cost reduction to carbon black users, less price volatility and even in some cases performance benefits over carbon black grades. It is used as a substitute for virgin carbon black, or applied in combination with its virgin counterpart; the research of the recycled material’s applications, its blending properties and value is still ongoing, and it was deeply discussed during Recovered Carbon Black Forum held on May 21-22 in Berlin, Germany organized by Smithers Rapra and Martin von Wolferstorff.