Murfitts Industries and tyre giant Michelin have announced a project to process old tyres, recovering the energy and materials within them.

As part of the project, Murfitts, the UK’s largest tyre recycling company, has submitted plans to set up a tyre reprocessing site at Michelin’s Stoke-on-Trent premises.

The “cutting-edge” process developed by Murfitts will reportedly generate energy which will be used to power Michelin’s production on site, thereby lowering CO2 emissions from the factory by 1,500 tonnes per year. In addition to the energy recovered, the process will also produce recovered carbon black (rCB) and tyre pyrolysis oil (TPO).

The materials recovery facility, for which Murfitts has filed a planning application, will see Michelin supply Murfitts with around 1.35m ‘end-of-life’ car tyres per year (the equivalent of 12,500 tonnes).

Murfitts reprocesses around 20m end-of-life tyres annually. A statement from the company said that in recent years, it has developed processes to “recover tyre materials in forms that can be ultimately used in the production of new tyres, thus contributing to the circular economy”.

The new plant will use those processes at a commercial scale to recover the raw materials through pyrolysis – breaking down tyres through thermal decomposition without oxygen. The rCB produced can be used for a wide range of products, including new tyres, and the TPO can be used for other materials and alternative fuels.

Mark Murfitt, founder of Murfitts Industries, said: “We believe this plant could be a breakthrough in the life cycle of a tyre. It moves tyre recycling on from recovering energy and material for other uses to being able to feed it directly back into factories for new tyre production.

“We have been developing our pyrolysis process for a number of years and our results now show we can produce material from end-of-life tyres which can perform better than the virgin equivalent for some applications. This plant will be a win-win for the tyre industry, the local and national economy and the environment.”

The process also produces steam which will be supplied directly to the Michelin factory. This will replace the natural gas currently used to create steam for the curing phase of tyre production, reducing the need for fossil fuels.

Christina Peloquin, site director at Michelin UK, said: “This is a really exciting project which reduces our environmental impact at the same time as helping us stay competitive by lowering our energy costs. The team has worked exceptionally hard on this project, and we’re looking forward to welcoming Murfitts to our Stoke-on-Trent site.”

Maria Röttger, CEO and president of Michelin Europe North, added: “At Michelin, we see every challenge as a chance to lead positive change—and end-of-life tyres are no exception. This project with Murfitts Industries is a powerful reflection of Michelin’s enduring commitment to sustainability and responsible leadership in the tyre and rubber industry”.

The facility is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2026.

To find out more, proceed to the original press release by Tyrepress.