Old tires can become a climate-friendly fuel
Wastefront, a Norwegian company has developed an innovative method to convert old tires into low-carbon fuel.
The tires are shredded, and the steel bracing is removed, after which the remaining material undergoes pyrolysis, breaking down the rubber into hydrocarbon gases. Some of these gases condense into tire-derived oil, while the rest, including methane, fuel the reactor. The carbon black recovered from the process can be reused in tire manufacturing, supporting carbon neutrality goals. The tire-derived oil, which resembles crude oil, can be refined into diesel fuel with an impressive 80-90% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions compared to traditional fuel.
This innovative approach addresses the challenges of tire disposal (existing recycling methods are not particularly eco-friendly) while providing cleaner fuel alternatives for vehicles, particularly those that are difficult to electrify.
Wastefront has ambitious plans to construct a plant in Sunderland, England, with the capacity to produce 25,000 tons of tire-derived oil annually from 8 million tires. Read full article here
