Pyrolysis has long been identified as the best and most environmentally friendly solution to recycle end of life tyres.

Pyreco and Metso will provide Europe’s first large scale tyre pyrolysis plant in Teesside by early 2012. The development, which is currently at the planning stage, will turn used tyres back into carbon black, steel, gas and oil, with no negative environmental implications.

 

Tyre pyrolysis involves externally applying heat to tyres in an oxygen free environment, so that the tyres decompose, giving off gas, then oil, leaving a mix of char and steel which is then separated and further refined. All of the material entering the chamber is accounted for in the various outputs. To find out more about the process, and how we recycle car tyres, click here.

 

The process represents the culmination of a twelve year research and development programme by Metso’s pyro processing pilot plant facility located in Danville, Pennsylvania and will result in a fully operational plant, capable of processing and recycling 60,000 tonnes of tyres per year.

 

Environmentally, PYReco will help towards the UK’s targets on greenhouse gas reductions through the displacement of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO2 that would otherwise be created through the production of carbon black, steel and power.

 

Two hundred and fifty million discarded tyre casings, or “arisings”, per annum, projected to rise by four per cent a year (EU Statistics and Freedonia Report) represents potentially 4 million barrels of recoverable diesel fuel, plus 4.5 million BOE (barrels of oil equivalent) of syngas.

 

The greatest savings of all, however, will come from recycling the carbon black and steel. Carbon black manufacture requires the burning of around 1.4 tonnes of oil for each tonne of carbon black. Reclaiming the valuable materials used to manufacture Europe’s tyres would save the needless consumption of a further 6 million barrels of oil and avoid creating around 700,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.

 

With the European Union urgently seeking ways to reduce its carbon footprint and protect vital strategic resources, the opportunities are clear. In addition to the recovery of vital raw materials, Pyreco also prevents the need for current environmentally unfriendly tyre disposal methods such as incineration, land cover and land fill.

 “Over the last 25 years I have been looking to discover ways to reduce mankind’s footprint on our planet. It is therefore of particular personal satisfaction to be able to
see such huge benefits being attached to this plant and for those who purchase its products,” says PYReco’s chairman, Anthony Carter.