News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

In May 2022, Liberty Tire Recycling – one of the main providers of tire recycling services with over 35 locations in the United States and Canada – participated in a Michigan EGLE grant project with Clare County and Michigan Technological University using Tire Derived Aggregate (TDA) in a base layer of the roadway and SmartMIX rubber as an additive for the hot mix surface layer. The TDA was used in a section of the roadway with a swamp on both sides – providing a base layer that will not heave and shove due to winter freezing.

When a tire is recycled through tire pyrolysis, the solid material that remains from the pyrolysis of the rubber, commonly referred to as tire char or raw rCB, is composed of carbon black and varying amounts of impurities, such as silica, zinc, and sulphur. The latter are found in the original tire as additives to the production process.

The U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) and its member companies stand in support of H.R. 8165, the Commercial Vehicle Fleet Retreaded Tire Utilization Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2022, introduced this week by Congressman Tim Ryan (OH-13). The bill would provide tax credits for fleet purchases of U.S. retreaded commercial tires. “Retreading of commercial tires in the U.S. market has steadily decreased over the last 25 years, due in part to foreign alternatives for new tires, which are 65 percent less likely to be retreaded because of their design and construction,” said Anne Forristall Luke, president and CEO of USTMA.

Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA) welcomes the recent changes to the CO2 emission factor for end-of-life (EOL) tyres in the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Scheme, taking effect 1 July 2022. Of the 460,000 tonnes of EOL tyres generated annually in Australia, if 100,000 tonnes were used to replace coal in fuel burning applications, this would represent a potential carbon dioxide reduction of 87,000 tonnes and would make a substantial contribution to Australia’s greenhouse gas abatement programme.

Scandinavian Enviro Systems (Enviro) has received approval as an intermediate for its pyrolysis oil according to the EU chemicals regulation, REACH and therefore will now execute the previously announced order for pyrolysis oil worth MSEK 2 to a leading US oil company. The approval that has now been received means that Enviro can sell up to 1,000 tons of pyrolysis oil per year. In order to support broad commercialization of its oil and the company’s expansion plan, Enviro will immediately apply for REACH approval for the sale of unlimited volumes.

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Currently rubber recycled from end-of-life tires (ELTs) was ranked 3rd among the most suitable candidate streams for which to develop further EU-wide end-of-waste (EoW) criteria in the European Commission JRC’s report. The European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ association (ETRMA) and the European Recycling Industries’ Confederation (EuRIC) are pleased about this prioritization exercise, although they are right to wonder why there is no date on the horizon. The 3rd place (after Plastic and Textiles) is still worth a medal, nevertheless. Considering the enormous potential of chemical recycling (pyrolysis) of ELTs, the (very) few missing points could have been made up (author's opinion) and a time horizon might be foreseeable.

At the Future of Retreading and Recycling Conference conducted at Autopromotec on in May 2022, industry professionals highlighted numerous noteworthy tire recycling and retreading topics. Italian Autopromotec, a trade show for the automobile aftermarket that increasingly incorporates recycling, was one of the biggest and most informative events of late spring 2022.

Scandinavian Enviro Systems (Enviro) – a Swedish tire pyrolysis operator and equipment manufacturer – has been granted an environmental permit for the planned tire pyrolysis plant in Uddevalla, Sweden. As previously announced by Enviro, the application pertained to the establishment of a tire pyrolysis plant on an industrial site in the Lillesjö district of Uddevalla Municipality. The facility will have the capacity to process up to 60,000 tons per year, which would suffice for the recycling of more than 60 percent of Sweden’s total annual volume of end-of-life tires. The environmental permit application for the facility was filed in mid-November of last year.