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Pyrolysis for tyre recycling gains traction in SA

TYRE RECYCLING Milvinetix is using a development grant to improve its tyre recycling facilities

USEFUL WASTE Used tyres can be recycled, using pyrolysis, into materials which can be refined to produce petrochemicals

20th March 2015

By: Donna Slater

Features Deputy Editor and Chief Photographer

  

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Using pyrolysis to recycle used vehicle tyres is gaining popularity in South Africa, with the first fully functional pyrolysis plant, at Gauteng-based tyre recycler Milvinetix’s premises, already operational.

Pyrolysis is the irreversible thermochemical decomposition of organic material at elevated temperatures in the absence of oxygen.

Pyrolysis makes it possible to capture process gases through a cooling process, enabling producers to convert these gases into an oil, with a calorific value similar to unrefined Stage 6 diesel oil. This may be used to produce petrochemicals.

Meanwhile, Milvinetix has been receiving an infrastructure development grant of R310 a ton of waste tyres over the last two years from the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (Redisa) – delivered free of charge by Redisa-registered transporters.

The company currently processes, on average, 180 t of waste tyres a month and is using the grant to develop existing infrastructure and to buy new equipment, enabling the business to expand and, ultimately, process more waste tyres.

Milvinetix MD Pieter Buckle says the infrastructure development grant is a reliable source of income. “It has enabled us to focus on developing our core business and is an essential part of our company’s ability to implement our planning strategies – particularly to take advantage of potential future growth.”

Milvinetix Operations
At Milvinetix’s processing plant, tyres are transformed into smaller and simpler compounds. These compounds can be turned into various products, including carbon char, oil and products that can be used to generate electricity.

Currently, the company supplies its products to an organisation that further purifies the oil and sells it to the market. In addition, carbon char is supplied to interested parties that reprocess and refine the product, which is then also sold to the market.

Buckle says that, despite initial start-up challenges, Milvinetix continues to look for ways of creating synthetic fuels. “This is leading to not only job creation opportunities but also a cleaner South Africa.”

All processors involved in the Redisa plan are required to meet stringent criteria and are subject to a vetting process.

Redisa director Stacey Davidson applauds the work that Milvinetix has done to date: “The company is certainly proving that pyrolysis is an industry with growth potential in South Africa. Setting up a pyrolysis plant is an incredibly technical and expensive exercise, but companies like Milvinetix are going a long way towards assisting Redisa in establishing a new tyre recycling industry.”

Davidson notes that, generally, the success rate of pyrolysis plants is relatively poor. However, she expects the market and industry to grow and thrive with the expertise of Milvinetix. “This is essential to Redisa, which is required to develop the recycling market to process large amounts of waste tyres.”

Davidson adds that, through extensive research in products that could potentially be produced from waste tyres, coupled with market research, Redisa has identified a new and lucrative business model that will create a solution for synthetic fuels.

Meanwhile, Redisa estimates that an addi-tional ten-million tons of waste tyres will enter the market each year.

“Redisa is assisting with this challenge by removing tyre waste from the environment, thereby ensuring that the tyres do not end up in landfills and are not abandoned or burnt for their inner steel belts,” says Davidson.

Milvinetix’s pyrolysis system is also designed to treat other waste, including municipal solid waste, sewage and oil sludge, automotive shredder residuals, electronic waste, rubber, medical waste, plastics and agricultural waste. The system is also designed to clean contaminated soil.

Edited by Samantha Herbst
Creamer Media Deputy Editor

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