(Credit: Pixabay)Michelin is launching construction on its first tire recycling plant in collaboration with Enviro, a Swedish company that has developed a patented technology to recover carbon black, oil, steel and gas from end-of-life tires.
Based in Chile’s Antofagasta region, the plant will be able to recycle 30,000 tons of earthmover tires a year, or nearly 60% of such tires scrapped every year nationwide. Work will begin in 2021, with production scheduled to get underway in 2023. More than $30 million will be invested in building Michelin’s first new-generation end-of-life tire processing plant.
The new-generation recycling plant will support the circular economy with innovative recycling processes. Scrap tires will be collected directly from customer premises, then transported to the plant to be cut up and recycled.
Enviro’s technology, which produces reusable materials like carbon black, pyrolysis oil, gas, and steel, will enable everything in an end-of-life tire to be recovered for reuse.
Current plans call for 90% of the recovered materials to be reused in a variety of rubber-based products, such as tires, conveyor belts and anti-vibration products. The remaining 10% will be reused directly by the plant to generate its own-use heat and power.
Michelin says this initial recycling plant will enable the company to offer a comprehensive recycling solution, from collecting end-of-life tires to reusing the recovered raw materials in the manufacture of new products.
