Tytec Recycling, a new company based in Perth, Western Australia, has announced what it states is “the world’s first environmentally friendly OTR tyre recycling. Edison Award-winning technology from Green Distillation Technologies Corp (GDTC) finally provides mining a way to convert used tyres into renewable energy sources. The innovative process consumes less energy and results in extremely low emissions and a safer work environment for system operators.”
Tyre recycling has always been difficult especially for off the road (OTR) tyres used in mining. Tytec Recycling has developed an innovative solution. Using technology from GDTC, Tytec Recycling offers a one-step process to convert OTR tyres into high-quality steel, diesel oil and carbon.
“We’ve been working on a way to efficiently recycle OTR tyres for the past nine years,” says Brett Fennell, Chairman of Tytec Recycling. “Tytec Recycling is collaborating with GDTC to establish an environmentally friendly way to turn old earthmoving tyres into a renewable energy source.”
“There are plenty of ways to break down tyres but none of them are effective for OTR tires,” says Fennell.
Tytec reports that most tyre recycling requires up to six steps, including removing the steel beading from tires, cutting the tyres into small pieces, then shredding or grinding the tyre cuttings. The final step in the recycling preparation is to perform magnetic sorting to remove any remaining steel for crumb rubber sales. Crumb rubber is commonly used in athletic surfaces, playgrounds and equestrian footings.
In order to extract oil and carbon from old tyres, an additional process is required using pyrolysis reactors.
The current recycling process is time-consuming, energy intensive and expensive. The larger the tyre, the more costly, maintenance intensive and difficult each step becomes.
“The Destructive Distillation process used by Tytec Recycling allows a whole OTR tyre to be recycled in a single step,” explains Fennell. “We’re using continuous heating technology that’s incredibly energy efficient and results in extremely low emissions. Our reactors operate at a much lower temperature and pressure, providing the added advantage of being safer for system operators and reducing the wear and tear on the plant.”
The result from the distillation process is reclaimed steel, carbon and diesel of saleable quality.
Tytec Recycling holds an exclusive global technology license for the Destructive Distillation process for OTR tyres, allowing it to provide, it says, “the most environmentally friendly OTR tyre recycling in the world. All emissions meet or exceed EPA, European Environment Agency (EEA) and the Australian Department of Environment Regulation (DER) standards and approvals.
“We’re currently on track to begin OTR recycling in June 2016 and will open our purpose-built recycling center in Perth in January 2017, then Queensland soon after,” Fennell says.
Tytec Recycling will attend MINExpo 2016 in Las Vegas this September to showcase the process and explore potential opportunities to expand the company to other locations around the globe.
GDTC has developed proprietary destructive distillation technology capable of recycling end-of-life tyres into saleable commodities of carbon, oil and steel. It received a 2015 Edison Award in the Resource Management or Renewable Resources category.