News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

AZuR’s (Allianz Zukunft Reifen) network with a wide variety of companies related to the field of end-of-life tire recycling, welcomes a new partner. The British supplier of pyrolysis technology WF Recycle-Tech manufactures ethical and environmentally friendly systems that are used worldwide for the recycling of end-of-life tires. The company's patented thermodynamic process uses kinetic energy and heat to break down the rubber crumbs of end-of-life tires into three end products: oil, gas, and recovered carbon black (rCB). All three end products of the process have commercial applications: the oil can be used as fuel or for the production of chemical products, the gas can be used to generate electricity and heat, and the rCB can be used in the rubber and plastics industries.

Allianz Zukunft Reifen (AZuR) initiative aims to promote and utilize the potential of retreaded tires for environmental protection. Backed by the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU), AZuR refutes common stereotypes about retreaded tires with recent studies and scientific facts. Modern technologies are used in the production of retreaded tires. Despite technological progress, prejudices persist, but AZuR is striving for an image change and would like to establish retreaded tires as the standard.

Continental has sold its plant in Kaluga, Russia, to Russian company S8 Capital. With this step, Continental has divested the majority of its activities in Russia as part of its announced controlled withdrawal from the Russian market – a decision taken by the technology company in response to the war against Ukraine. The transaction has been approved by the relevant authorities. Continental produced passenger tires at the plant in Kaluga. Air conditioning and power steering lines as well as parts for air suspension systems for the Russian market were also manufactured there.

Kal Tire’s Mining Tire Group – an international leader in mining tire management and supply, serving more than 150 mine sites across five continents – opened the doors its new off-the-road (OTR) tire retread and repair facility in Wabush, Newfoundland! According to Kal Tire, this state-of-the-art facility offers customers a range of solutions to help improve sustainability, tire life and fleet availability:

Pyrum Innovations AG (Pyrum), a pioneering company that recycles used tires sustainably with its globally patented unique pyrolysis technology, recently published its annual and consolidated financial statements for the 2022 financial year. According to Pyrum’s press release, the group achieved total output of EUR 19.1 million. This represents a significant increase compared to the same period in the previous year (2021: EUR 3.7 million). The main reason for this was the sharp increase in own work capitalized in the amount of EUR 17.8 million (2021: EUR 2.8 million) as part of the expansion of the main plant in Dilligen/Saar. At EUR 1.0 million, sales were slightly above the previous year's level (2021: EUR 0.9 million).

IMC Outdoor Living – a division of Liberty Tire Recycling, the premier provider of tire recycling services in North America, – announced the opening of a new manufacturing facility in Hebron, Ohio. IMC Outdoor Living produces rubber mulch, a resilient and sustainable alternative to traditional wood mulch, made from 100% recycled tires. The new Hebron facility located 30 miles east of Columbus, OH, includes 60,000 square feet for production and an additional 70,000 square feet of warehouse space to store and ship premium rubber mulch that is used for playground and landscape applications. The new facility will allow IMC Outdoor Living to expand its presence in the Midwest and focus on serving the region’s parks and recreation departments, schools, municipalities, and government agencies.

The BlackCycle consortium, in collaboration with CERTH, will be presenting an abstract at the European Congress on Catalysis (EuropaCat) in Prague, Czech Republic, from August 27th to September 1st, 2023. The abstract focuses on the systematic screening of conventional and hierarchical zeolites for the catalytic conversion of end-of-life tire pyrolysis vapors into aromatic compounds. The study is part of the EU project BlackCycle, which aims to develop a technology for recycling end-of-life tires into raw materials that can be used in the production of new tires.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has introduced a new tread formulation for its ElectricDrive GT tire, specifically designed for electric vehicles. The tire features a specialized tread compound that enhances all-season traction and incorporates Monolith carbon black produced through methane pyrolysis. Monolith is a global leader in commercial-scale carbon black and hydrogen production using the methane pyrolysis process. This collaboration between Monolith and Goodyear marks a significant step towards achieving zero-emissions carbon black in tire manufacturing.

The BlackCycle project has been focused on developing deconstruction technologies to recover the different rubber coming from very precise parts of the tyre. The objective is to enhance the quality of the recycled raw materials and add value for subsequent industrial processes such as granulation, pyrolysis, or micronization. After design studies and initial testing, two deconstruction technologies have been chosen: the Outside Rubber Cutting (ORC) for recovering tire treads from passenger cars and trucks, and the Inside Rubber Grinding (IRG) for extracting innerliners from truck tires. These machines incorporate groundbreaking technological solutions, enabling the treatment of tires from any brand and size with near full automation. Patents for the new detection technology and steering robots will be completed in 2023.