Australia needs to increase the domestic market for tyre-derived fuel (TDF), according to Rob Kelman, Australian Tyre Recyclers Association (ATRA) Executive Officer.

While TDF is recognised world-wide as an alternative fuel because of its high calorific value, Rob says Australia’s industrial sector is failing to capitalise on an abundant supply right on its doorstep – exporting 130,000 tonnes of TDF a year.

ATRA has commissioned a report into the global use of TDF and how learnings can be applied nationally. Rob says it’s particularly relevant to Australia’s five operating cement kilns.

“There is a wake-up call around the need to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and carbon dioxide,” he says. “New national greenhouse and energy reports show that using TDF can save 30-40 per cent of emissions compared with using coal – that’s a big carbon dioxide reduction.

“Cement kilns in Australia are huge energy consumers and CO2 emitters. They can’t reduce their energy consumption, but they can reduce their emissions and tyre-derived fuel is a prime way to do that.

“It’s about communicating the value of the material to the industrial sector. It’s a viable fuel, we want to see it used here in Australia.”

ATRA was established to represent sustainable used tyre collection and recycling in Australia. Its members recycle more than 20 million used tyres a year, or about 400,000 tyres a week.

Used tyres processed by ATRA members are recycled for reuse as rubber crumb for sports fields and other soft fall surfacing, in bitumen and asphalt, for civil works and as tyre-derived fuel replacing coal in industrial facilities in Japan and South Korea.

Rob says TDF is a global commodity. About half of all tyres in America are used domestically as TDF for paper mills and cement kilns. In Europe, companies are paying up to 80 euros a tonne for CO2 , which is a big driver for using TDF and other alternate fuels.

He says a recent visit to a Portuguese cement kiln demonstrated what’s possible for energy intensive industries through the use of alternate fuels.

Like much of the global cement industry, Portugal’s Secil Outao cement plant on the outskirts of Lisbon, has and is working to meet the climate change challenges. Consumer, government and customer demands for lowered greenhouse gas emissions are resulting in innovations across the sector. Shifting from fossil fuels to the use of alternate fuels offers significant CO2 reduction opportunities.

The Secil Outao plant uses a 50/50 mix of PET coke and alternate fuels including TDF, Solid Recovered Fuels (shredder flock and other post-consumer and commercial materials including imported SRF pellets from the UK) and biomass, including residues from Portugal’s olive industry. The plant is now undergoing a $26 million upgrade to further use alternate fuels, capture and use production heat for its processes and other energy efficiency upgrades. 

New Zealand’s Golden Bay cement kiln has recently converted to use tyre-derived fuel for about 50 per cent of its fuel demands. Accounts from the plant suggest it’s a successful program resulting in CO2 savings and tyre radials used for about 15 per cent of the TDF incorporated into the clinker. 

While Australia has traditionally been recalcitrant in considering alternative fuel because of access to cheap coal and the lack of a real price on carbon, Rob says it’s time to rethink TDF on the back of an export ban of whole-baled tyres, which came into effect on 1 December 2021.

The ban has resulted in increased capital investment in the industry, much of it toward shredding of tyres. While there is a growing market for crumb rubber, it’s not large enough to recycle the 56 million tyres at end of use every year.

“Tyres are unique because they’re difficult to recycle and there’s so few applications for them,” Rob says. “We’re now seeing large volumes of tyres being shredded and sent to landfill because there’s so many of them, and they’re going to keep coming.

“We have to do something. Using them for fuel is not a bad outcome.”

Rob says a tyre has similar properties to coal and is a viable alternative for a kiln. TDF is a clean-burning fuel and burns hot, which is ideal for the cement industry. It’s also consumed and incorporated into the end-product, resulting in less residual ash.

Australia is in the early phase of what’s possible, but Rob is encouraged that there are some conversations and a trial use of tyre-derived fuel taking place. One of the biggest hurdles to overcome is a lack of understanding and dispelling the perception that fuel from tyres is a less desirable outcome.

“Part of the export ban agenda was for Australia to use our resources domestically and not impose our waste on other countries,” Rob says.

“A critical part of the narrative is, what’s our next step? To get TDF used here will be a good outcome for many in the industry.” 

For more information, visit:  www.atra.asn.au

Waste Management Review is the specialist magazine for the waste, recycling and resource recovery sectors in Australia.

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