News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

Building on the success of last edition of summit, ACI announced that the 3rd European Carbon Black Summit will take place on 14th on 15th June 2023 in Frankfurt, Germany. To register for the Summit, ACI offers a special 15% discount up until 6 weeks prior to the event and 10% after that until the event's date to all Weibold’s subsribers available via the promo code “CCBe3MKTWeibold”. For further information or to register your attendance contact Rohan Baryah on rbaryah@acieu.net or +48 61 646 7022 quoting the promo code. About the Summit Carbon Black (CB) demand is forecasted to increase, and addressing this increase will be very challenging as the war in Ukraine has already caused a big gap in the supply of virgin carbon black. Some of the experts from this field say that shortage of supply of CB goes up to 40% compared to the years before the war. The main focus of this summit will be to address these issues. With key topics such as CB market overview, improving sustainability in the industry, achieving superiority in supply chain and others we will try to give answers to these pressing issues. Focus will be also on improving standardisation in recovered CB as well as problems with calculating life cycle of tires.

The European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) has published its members’ Q1 2023 replacement tires sales figures, indicating a significant drop in demand compared to the same period last year. Adam McCarthy, ETRMA’s Secretary General, said, “After negative trends in the second half of 2022, the sales volumes of ETRMA member companies in the first quarter of 2023 are down for all product categories compared to the first quarter of 2022.”

BIR 2023 World Recycling Convention is a three-day gathering of internationally recognized experts in recycling and sustainability, held on May (21)22 – 24 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The BIR World Recycling Convention & Exhibition in Amsterdam is set to bring the best networking and business opportunities and the latest market updates in global recycling. BIR has already announced impressive registration statistics: so far, over 750 participants from 400 companies in 50 countries have registered. Click here to see who's attending.

Waverly Carbon Management System – the UK's producer of recovered carbon black (rCB) – announced that it has achieved UKAS ISO 9001 and 14001 certification. UKAS is the National Accreditation Body for the United Kingdom appointed by government, to assess and accredit organisations that provide services including certification, testing, inspection and calibration. UKAS provides accreditation for waste management, recovery, reduction, and recycling activities to support the delivery of vital economic and environmental goals.

In his latest article, Martin von Wolfersdorf – a renown carbon black expert from Berlin – discusses the challenges faced by the recovered carbon black industry, particularly in terms of securing industry support and investment. Von Wolfersdorf notes that while the tire industry has made clear demands for tire sustainability, there could be more investment from tire and carbon black corporations to support the growth of the industry. Martin von Wolfersdorf also highlights the financial challenges faced by start-ups in the recovered carbon black industry, particularly those without an industrial operation. These companies often have more cash-burn than cash-flow, as planning and developing can be costly activities. Even pre-engineering studies required for permits can cost up to €1M. The article emphasizes that these start-ups need more equity investment to sustain their operations.

The European Recycling Industries’ Confederation (EuRIC) gathered more than 100 participants, from policymakers, recyclers and NGOs in Brussels on 18 April 2023 for its first conference dedicated to tire recycling. According to EuRIC’s press release, many speakers called for immediate actions. Poul Steen Rasmussen, President of EuRIC Mechanical Tire Recycling (MTR) and Group CEO of Genan, stressed in his opening remarks: “Tire recycling ticks many boxes, it saves critical resources that Europe would otherwise import, thus contributing to Europe’s strategic autonomy. It reduces the carbon and energy footprint and supports the EU’s ambition to carbon-neutrality. Yet, EU policy should do more to support tire recycling. To achieve the ambitious goals, set out in the Green Deal, it is essential that stakeholders from the entire tire value chain work closely together to solve sustainable problems and increase the use of recycled materials from tires in many different applications, including new tires!”.

Last year, Tyre Recycling Solutions (TRS) – an innovative tire recycling company from Switzerland – announced the official inauguration of the new TyreXol™ MMA production line at facilities of Renecal, in Guardo (Palencia, Spain). The common project between TRS and its recycling partner, Renecal, has gone further. According to Renecal, Spanish company COLLOSA has carried out the reinforcement of the LE-6517 road of the Diputación de León, in the municipality of Cabreros del Río, with a mixture type SMA 11, with a 6% endowment of bitumen and 1% Tyrexol MMA 30, with a spectacular result and great facility for manufacturing and implementation.

Apollo Tyres, the international tire manufacturer, is readying itself for sustainable mobility solutions. The company has now developed passenger vehicle tires with 75% sustainable materials. Apollo’s new sustainable product comprises many featured compounding ingredients in different components of the tires, including bio-based and recycled materials. The sustainable natural rubber, used in these tires, have been sourced from suppliers who have public commitments to sourcing and/or traceable to specific plantations, in accordance with the company’s sustainable natural rubber policy.

To create a custom tire for the brand-new concept car, the Lancia Pu+Ra HPE, Goodyear was chosen as the supplier of choice. Customization, aerodynamics, and design are at the core of the most recent partnership between Goodyear and the revived Lancia brand. Lancia Concept is the first vehicle of the new Lancia era, a 100% electric concept car that represents the vision of the brand in terms of design, interior home feeling, sustainability, electrification and technology.