News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

Discarded tyres pose significant environmental and health risks, accumulating in landfills, and polluting ecosystems with toxic substances. The current scale of tyre waste exceeds the reach of existing recycling efforts, with over half of Europe’s waste being incinerated or being exported to Asia and Africa for environmentally damaging disposal, underscoring the vital need for innovative solutions in tyre waste management. Moreover, the increasing adoption of electric vehicles will further exacerbate the tyre waste problem as tyres used for electric vehicles wear down faster. CIRCTEC, a UK-headquartered technology company, has developed a proprietary technology for decomposing old tyres through pyrolysis, (a process that transforms waste into valuable circular materials through thermal decomposition in an oxygen-free environment), and for upgrading the products to high-quality recycled chemicals and renewable fuels.

Last week, the municipal council of Perl voted on the amendment to the development plan for the site of the new plant of Pyrum Innovations AG (Pyrum) and approved the amendment to the articles of association and thus the new development plan by a majority. Accordingly, only the construction of a tyre thermolysis plant of Pyrum GreenFactory II GmbH was approved on the property. Furthermore, the implementation agreement between the municipality of Perl and Pyrum Innovations AG was signed, which, among other things, stipulates the forest compensation areas for the building site. All comments from authorities, public bodies and the local population were also discussed and taken into account.

In Episode 61, Tyre and Rubber recycling interviewed the two leading tyre recyclers in South Africa - Dr Megran Zarrebini from The Mathe Group and Oscar Filen from XTYRE SA to hear their views on the new stewardship scheme.

After a successful funding round of 15 million EUR in 2023, Contec S.A. takes the next step in its expansion plans by onboarding Wojciech Paruzel as Chief Operations Officer. Wojciech Paruzel is an electrical engineer and a Wrocław University of Science and Technology graduate with an MBA in Business Management. His career spans over 25 years, with experience in the construction, automotive, and technology industries. He was previously the COO of the J.S. Hamilton Group, where he improved operational efficiency with selected strategies across Central and Eastern Europe.

Orion S.A., a global specialty chemicals company, announced today it is investing in Alpha Carbone, a French tire recycling company. The partnership will enable Alpha Carbone to scale up and produce commercial volumes of tire pyrolysis oil and recovered carbon black. The cooperation also includes a long-term supply agreement with Orion as the exclusive customer for the tire pyrolysis oil produced by Alpha Carbone. The oil will be used by Orion to manufacture circular carbon black for tire and rubber goods customers.

Sailun Group's Director of the National Engineering Research Center for Rubber and Tire and Honorary Chairman, Yuan Zhongxue, announced the company’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) during the 2024 China Rubber Conference on March 27th. By 2030, Sailun aims to increase the sustainable materials used in tire production to 40% and to achieve 100% by 2050. Additionally, the goal is to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions by 30% per tire by 2030 compared to 2022 levels.

Ecolomondo Corporation (Ecolomondo), a cleantech company that designs, builds, operates and commercializes Thermal Decomposition turnkey plants using its proprietary Thermal Decomposition Process (TDP) recycling technology, announced the appointment of Mr. Gary Economo as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Economo is an accomplished senior executive with demonstrated year-after-year success achieving revenue, profit and business-growth objectives within startup, turnaround and changing markets.

The Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC) led one of Australia’s largest multi-council projects, incorporating rubber from end-of-life tires into bitumen to enhance asphalt durability, performance, and sustainability. Conducted by RMIT University, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study, titled "Life Cycle Assessment and Potential Environmental Benefits of Crumb Rubber Asphalt using Field Data," revealed that recycled rubber extends pavement life, reduces raw material demand, and lowers environmental impacts.

The next BIR World Recycling Convention and Exhibition will take place from (26) 27 – 29 May 2024 in Copenhagen. The recycling market has been rocked by the European Commission’s decision to ban crumb rubber infill from use in synthetic turf surfaces at the end of an eight-year transition period. Therefore, the focus has shifted to alternative opportunities, with tyre pyrolysis attracting plenty of headlines, investment and imaginative thinking. Given the huge strides forward taken in this field over recent years, it will again form one of the main topics for debate at the upcoming BIR Tyres & Rubber Committee meeting to take place in Copenhagen on Tuesday May 28.