Tire Rubber Recycling Forum coming to Brussels

European Rubber Journal is hosting the Tire Rubber Recycling Forum to be held in Brussels from November 19-20, 2013. The conference will address the issues relating to the ‘end of life’ and disposal of rubber and tires, including the viewpoints of trade associations, academic bodies, government agencies, tire manufacturers, tire recyclers, tire suppliers, and researchers.

The Tire Rubber Recycling Forum themes include:
– Responsible recycling schemes
– Technical innovations in the recycling of rubber
– Recycled rubber products : sports surfaces/asphalt/blended products
– End of waste

Here is the conference program (PDF).

Tire recycler Scutum Capital listed on German stock market

Munich-based Scutum Capital AG, a tire recycler, reports that it is now listed on the Open Market of the stock exchange in Düsseldorf. The move follows the successful test of its Pyrolyx-Carbon Black, a recycled carbon black, following the startup and trial run of its first industrial reactor line in Drunen, Netherlands in March 2012.

Niels Raeder, Member of the Board of Scutum Capital AG said in a press release, “The different test results are now available and they confirm our expectations of the Pyrolyx-technology. All of the recycled products met at least the quality of the successful test results of the materials achieved by the Pyrolyx-pilot-reactor in 2010.” Beginning in May, the company expects to begin supplying samples of its recycled products to leading international carbon black-, rubber- and tire-manufacturers for further product- and application-tests.

Here is the press release.

Dow Chemical and Lehigh Technologies collaborate to create sustainable materials for tires

Dow Chemical Company and Lehigh Technologies, manufacturer of sustainable, micronized rubber powders, have announced that the two companies will collaborate on projects to make tires more sustainable. The research involves complementary proprietary technologies to modify the rubber particles for the use of post-consumer rubber materials in tires. “Our primary customer base, the world’s leading tire companies, has been requesting advanced technologies to enable increased sustainable content in tires,” said Alan Barton, CEO of Lehigh Technologies. “The Dow-Lehigh research program is part of a broader technology program at Lehigh, aimed at providing sustainable solutions without compromise.”

Ellsin Environmental turns scrap tires into energy and reusable goods

The Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario company, Ellsin Environmental (a subsidiary of Environmental Waste International), recycles scrap tires into steel, oil, and carbon black and produces enough energy to power the unit with the potential for selling the excess generated power on the grid. The TR900 pilot plant began operations in 2011 with the objective of demonstrating the technology and establishing the market for tire byproducts before expanding to other locations.

Tire Recycling Plant Moves Forward

As previously reported on this blog, Green Tire Systems plans to build a tire recycling plant at an unused brownfield site in Niagara Falls, New York. Santarosa Holdings is developing the site with the help of brownfield cleanup dollars from the federal government through the Niagara County Brownfield Development Corp.

On Tuesday, the project moved one step closer to completion with the demolition of the existing buildings on the site.

According to Green Tire Systems, the tire recycling facility will employ a highly technological process that reclaims the core components used to make the modern tire; carbon black, oil, steel, and syngas. The article did not provide a completion date for the facility.

Snow Mobile Company Enters Tire Recycing Business

Ultimate Sports, a company that “specializes in every item, large and small, that snowmobilers need in order to enjoy the sport and improve their performance,” has gotten into the tire recycling business, because, why not?

The company has entered into a joint venture with a company called EnSol to fund a tire recycling system called Tire Converter, which converts scrap tires into carbon black, oil, gas, and petroleum solvents. The first unit will be designed specifically to process tire chips. The tire chips will produce gas, carbon black and solvent. The converter unit has been designed to process six tons of scrap tires per day. In return for the investment capital, USI will receive equity and a share of the profit of the joint venture.

From the company’s press release:

Robert Matthews of EnSol states, “Each ton of truck tire feed stock produces approximately 900 lb of carbon black. Carbon black can be sold for about $2-3 per pound. Therefore, one ton of “chipped” tires will produce approximately $2,250 worth of carbon black. Six tons of tires per day can produce about $13,500 of revenue per day. Carbon black can be used to create extruder plastics, paint pigment, rubber manufacturing and filtration mechanisms, and even batteries.”

Two comments:
1. Current contract prices for N550 in the United States are about $0.40 per pound, nowhere near the prices mentioned above. It is true that certain high end pigment grades may sell for $2-$3 per pound, but that brings us to item number 2.
2. Barring some sort of revolutionary development in tire recycling technology, recycled carbon black will continue to be used primarily in relatively non-demanding, non-dynamic applications, such as asphalt modification, floor mats, rubber bumpers, etc. Recycled material is not going into paints, batteries, or tires.

Adama to Build Tire Recycling Plants in Romania

A Delaware-based company with headquarters in Israel, Adama Technologies, has announced plans to set up four tire recycling facilities in Romania by 2012. In the release, the company indicates that it expects to generate revenues of Eur100 million annually through the project but does not indicate what tire recycling technology will be employed, what the capacity of the plants will be, what materials will be produced and in what volumes, or what the sales price of these recycled materials would be.

From its website, Adama Technologies appears to be primarily a bioremediation company focused on cleaning up polluted industrial sites. The first question on its FAQ page is this:

(Q) Does Adama Tech deal only with Heavy Metal contamination?
(A) Yes, Adama Tech deal and focus only with Heavy Metal contamination.

Here is the press release.

Here is the main text of the release:

Adama Technologies to Establish Tire Recycle Factories in Romania
The Company Signs a Letter of Intent With Local Entrepreneurs to Establish Tire Recycle; Factories Which Will Enable Partial Funding by the European Union and Government Funding

NEW YORK, September 13, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Adama Technologies Corporation – (OTC BB:ADAC), a clean tech company, today announced that it has signed a Letter of Intent with local entrepreneurs in Romania to establish a line of tire recycle factories, with the ability of partial funding by the European Union and local government. Adama Technologies anticipates the estimated revenues from this new project will generate over EUR100 million annually.

With the substantial aid of the E.U. and governmental funding, the establishment of tire recycle factories is expected to generate a breadth of new jobs in the country and further development of untapped markets in the region. Launching the first tire recycle factory of its kind in Romania, the company expects to open the first factory within the coming year, after which, three additional sites will be set up by 2012.

“The letter of intent we have signed is very important to us and we are very happy with this achievement. Adama’s cooperation with Romania and the EU marks a significant milestone in the company’s goals to expand technology portfolio and open additional markets across the globe,” noted Aviram Malik, CEO of Adama Technologies.

About Adama Technologies Corporation

Adama is a Brownfield remediation company whose foundation lies in its patented technology. The technology successfully treats all metals within the Resource and Recovery Act (RCRA) and Universal Treatment Standards (UTS). The technology has successfully completed the U.S. (EPA) “SITE” program and is ready for commercial use. For further information, visit: http://www.adama-tech.com.

Carbon Green deregisters with SEC

Carbon Green Inc. (OTCBB: CGNI), a supplier of recycled carbon black based in Bratislava, Slovakia, announced on August 20 that it had voluntarily deregistered its common stock with the the Securities and Exchange Committee. Carbon Green expects to continue its operations as a privately held company. Here is the press release.

Carbon Green Inc. (the “Company” or “Carbon Green”) (OTCBB: CGNI) announced today that it has suspended its reporting obligations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by filing a Form 15 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 20, 2010. Filing of the Form 15 will also accomplish a voluntarily deregistration of Carbon Green’s common stock. It is eligible to suspend its reporting obligations and deregister its common stock because there are less than 300 holders of record of Carbon Green’s common stock.

Upon the filing of the Form 15, Carbon Green’s obligation to file certain reports with the SEC, including Forms 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K, was immediately suspended. Carbon Green expects that the deregistration of its common stock will become effective 90 days after the date of filing the Form 15 with the SEC.

Carbon Green simply is not well-suited to being a public reporting company because of the limited number of shareholders. The limited number of shareholders and difficulty in trading shares among such a small group leads management to believe it is unlikely Carbon Green will be able to establish a meaningful public trading market for its common stock in the foreseeable future. Management believes having an active trading market is one of the principal benefits of being public, in that it provides liquidity and access to the capital markets for capital formation. Without a meaningful trading market, this benefit is not available and it does not seem prudent to continue to incur the cost of regulatory compliance that goes along with being a reporting company.

In light of the foregoing circumstances management expects Carbon Green will go forward viewing itself as a privately-held company, it will not attempt to facilitate a public trading market in Carbon Green common stock, and it will evaluate new options for restructuring and capital formation. Such options could involve the sale of additional securities, a merger or restructuring (which could include a cash-out elimination of minority stockholder interests), joint ventures, or other arrangements.

Another tire recycler enters the fray

Today in tire recycling news: a company called Plateau Mineral Development, Inc. announced that it, in conjunction with Environmental Solutions, has commenced the permitting process for the Tire Converter, which is a process designed to recover carbon black, oil, gas, and “petroleum solvents” from recycled tires.

Once the permitting process is complete, early fabrication of the device will begin. Permitting and early fabrication should allow Plateau and EnSol’s engineers to resolve any fabrication issues that could make building the Converter take longer than needed. Fabrication issues need to be fixed in order to avoid unforeseen delays that would include follow-on production problems.

According to the company’s press release, one of the markets the company plans to pursue for its recycled carbon black is batteries. According to Notch Consulting estimates, battery markets account for less than 0.1% of furnace black demand, and those grades are conductive blacks. There may be some confusion with acetylene black, which is used in batteries but would not be recovered from tires.

Carbon Green announces tire recycling plant in Ontario

On Wednesday, Carbon Green, a tire recycling company, announced that it had chosen southern Ontario as the first location for “phase one of the North American rollout of its full-scale tire recycling plants.” The announcement did not provide any details about the location of the plant, its capacity, or a completion schedule. Carbon Green operates a tire recycling plant in Cyprus. The company’s technology recycles used tires into recovered steel, a #2 diesel equivalent oil, and Carbon Green, a recycled carbon black.

The press release is here.