News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

Scandinavian Enviro Systems (Enviro) and Antin Infrastructure Partners (Antin) announced to have established a joint venture (JV) in order to, based on Enviro's technology, create a large-scale tire recycling group. The JV plans to establish plants across Europe with a total capacity of up to one million tons of end-of-life tires recycled annually by 2030. The JV partners have agreed on a plan for the financing of the new plant expansion. Antin, a leading private equity firm focused on infrastructure, will finance the initial investments.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently issued a request for information (RFI) to better understand the key opportunities and challenges associated with increased material circularity. This RFI aims to inform DOE’s upcoming efforts to advance circular economy technologies and systems in the United States. Developing pathways that keep materials in use beyond a single lifecycle is critical to decarbonizing the U.S. economy and setting the nation on the path to achieving the Biden Administration’s clean energy goals of a 100% clean electrical grid by 2035 and net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. The transition to a circular economy represents a strategic opportunity for the United States to pioneer new technologies with international demand and to strengthen domestic supply chains ranging from critical materials to commodities.

Cabot Corporation (NYSE: CBT) announced the launch of EVOLVE™ Sustainable Solutions, a new technology platform for advancing sustainable reinforcing carbons. Cabot’s ambition through this technology platform is to develop products that offer sustainable content with reliable performance at industrial scale by leveraging circular value chains and materials recovered from end-of-life tires, and/or renewable and bio-based materials, and/or processes that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Resulting from these efforts, Cabot has launched two new products which will be sold as the company’s first-ever International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC PLUS) certified solutions.

Scandinavian Enviro Systems (Enviro) has been informed that the fuel company Preem has performed successful production tests of the recovered pyrolysis oil that Enviro recently supplied. In November last year, the fuel company Preem placed an order with Enviro for recovered pyrolysis oil for use as a raw material in production tests to determine how suitable it is for the production of different biofuels. Since the start of deliveries in early February, Preem has been performing tests of the oil at its facility in Lysekil, Sweden, which had already been granted a permit specifically for conducting production tests of pyrolysis oil.

Life for Tyres (L4T) – a busines group specialised in the conversion of end-of-life tires into advanced biofuel feedstock and high quality secondary raw materials –announced the opening of its first plant in Puertollano (Spain). The plant upcycles end-of-life tires (ELTs) into high quality secondary commodities, such as advanced biofuel feedstock, recovered carbon black and scrap steel, using a cutting-edge and proprietary technology. With an investment of 33 million euros and an annual processing of 27,000 tons of waste tires, the plant is the largest and most advanced ever built in Europe. The plant's inauguration is the result of more than 10 years of research, industrial testing and operational improvements, and represents a significant milestone for L4T while bringing highly promising new upcycling opportunities for the tire industry. Using proprietary technology developed in partnership with CURTI Group and protected by five patents, the plant produces high-quality end-products, which include advanced biofuel feedstock and circular depolymerization oil, both certified by the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC).

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.

According to Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA), 20 million tonnes of rubber are used annually in the tire manufacturing sector to produce new tires. Over one million tonnes of industrial tires that are approaching the end of their useful lives are then buried on mine sites as a result of intensive use, creating environmental and operational challenges for mine operators. Circular Rubber Technologies (CRT) has developed a chemical-free devulcanization process that transforms one of the mining industry’s largest waste streams into a new valuable material. Their Rubber Reclaim product will be used to create new tires, significantly reducing the amount of virgin rubber demand and rubber ending up in landfills.

Following on from last years' hugely successful event, Smithers have announced Recovered Carbon Black Conference plans to travel to Barcelona on the 7-8 November 2023. About the Recovered Carbon Black Conference. Recognized within the industry as an essential platform for experts and innovators, the programme offers a 360-degree perspective of the recovered carbon black market, with key industry leaders from across the globe sharing their expertise, case studies and latest findings. The Recovered Carbon Black Conference provided a much-needed platform for experts and innovators, who research, develop and commercialise recovered carbon black to stay updated on the latest market developments, challenges and opportunities.

Episode 45 of the Tyre Recycling podcast features an interview with Martin von Wolfersdorff, the Managing Director of Wolfersdorff Consulting Berlin. During the interview Martin discusses the current state of play in the tyre pyrolysis sector and the changes seen over the last few year with manufacturers stating to dictate the specifications of their requirements. Tyre Recycling Podcast’s interviewer Ewan Scott also asked Martin to talk about the success of the Smithers Rcb Conference and the problems and opportunities that could exist from the potential crumb rubber restrictions.