Companies will recover carbon black and diesel fuel from a Colorado tire landfill.
Pyrolyx AG, a Munich, Germany-based company involved in the recovery of carbon black from scrap tires, has announced a partnership with Colorado-based CH2E Group. CH2E Group owns what it calls the largest tire landfill in the United States with a volume of roughly 600,000 tons.
Under the letter of intent signed Feb. 18, 2015, Pyrolyx says it will start by erecting a production plant on CH2E’s site in Hudson, Colorado. CH2E will provide shredded scrap tires and the land required to build the plant.
CH2E’s proposed Colorado facility uses tires as its primary source of raw material. CH2E’s thermal depolymerization system has been designed to convert waste tires into diesel fuel, activated carbon and steel. The company says its activated carbon has been formulated to be used in carbon injection systems or where there is a need for stringent flue emission controls.
Commissioning for the Pyrolyx project is scheduled for 2016, after which Pyrolyx, together with CH2E, will have the right to build further production lines for the recovery of carbon black from end-of-life tires. Pyrolyx claims that by today's standards this will be the world's largest plant for the production of recovered carbon black.
Pyrolyx has developed a patented process in which carbon black is obtained from scrap tires in what it calls a sustainable closed recycling loop. The carbon black can then be used to manufacture new tires.
“By partnering with the CH2E Group, we have now taken the strategically important step of entering the U.S. market, the second-largest in the world,” says Niels Raeder, CEO of Pyrolyx. “With Pyrolyx carbon black now having been successfully tested by the tire industry, we'll be able to produce a significant amount of recovered carbon black in the U.S. when the plant is complete. This will make a significant contribution to reducing the world's scrap tires.”