Investors back 20,000-tons-per-year plant using Pyrum technology.

Pyrum Innovations AG, Germany, says it has established the first joint venture to build and operate a pyrolysis plant to process scrap tires in Bavaria in southern Germany.

Under the company name Revalit GmbH, the plant has been designed with the capacity to accept 20,000 tons per year of discarded tires. It will be located in the Danube River port city of Straubing and is scheduled to start operating in 2024.

“The planned location is characterized by excellent connections to the road network and also offers the possibility of transporting the goods to and from the site by rail and ship,” Pyrum says.

In addition to Pyrum, other shareholders of Revalit include MCapital GmbH, Textor GmbH and Auer Holding GmbH, all based in Munich and each with a 25 percent stake.

The contract for the start of the development activities and the start of the work for the required approval documents was concluded in mid-July, Pyrum says. “Preliminary discussions with the authorities have already taken place [and] the signing of a reservation agreement with the landowner will take place immediately after the entry of the company in the commercial register.”

Pyrum says “initial financing discussions with banks are currently underway.”

Pyrum CEO Pascal Klein says,  “We are very pleased about the realization of our first joint venture and the future cooperation with our new partners. With our planned pyrolysis plant in Bavaria, we will reach an important milestone on the way to the commercial rollout of our pyrolysis technology.”

Jens Weinberger, managing director of MCapital, says, “We are proud to have found an innovative partner in pyrolysis technology in Pyrum Innovations AG, with whom we are jointly building our first plant in Bavaria.”

Research firm says global market will reach $7.5 billion by 2030.

The New York office of India-based Straits Research Pvt. Ltd. says a predicted rise the global recycled textile market is driven by an increase in recycling operations and an increase in demand from various industries, such as the retail sector, the automotive industry and the building and construction industry.

The company’s newly released report predicts more recyclable textiles will be harvested from the municipal solid waste (MSW) stream, plus more carpet, furniture fabric, footwear and “nondurable items such as sheets and towels” will be collected.

Straits Research’s study predicts the global recycled textile market size will reach $7.56 billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.6 percent. The research house says the global recycled textile market size was valued at $5.5 billion in 2021. “North America is anticipated to grow with the highest CAGR of 4.5 percent during the forecast period,” the firm adds.

“Environmental and economic benefits of recycled textiles include a reduction in the demand for virgin materials such as wool and cotton, pollution, and water and energy use,” Straits Research says. “Through recycling, businesses can increase their profits by avoiding the costs of dumping in landfills while simultaneously contributing to the value and quality of the environment, jobs for marginally employable laborers, charitable donations and disaster relief, and the transport of used clothing to regions of the world in need."

Straits Research lists several textile recycling firms poised to grow in the next 10 years, including India-based Khaloom Textiles Pvt. Ltd.; South Korea-based Kisco Group; India-based Anandi Enterprises; India-based Usha Yarns Ltd.; Sweden-based Renewcell AB; South Korea-based Hyosung TNC Co. Ltd.; South Carolina-based Martex Fiber Southern Corp.; Germany-based Otto Garn; South Carolina-based Leigh Fibers Inc.; and Germany-based Gebrueder Otto GmbH & Co. KG.

Based on type, the global recycled textile market is segmented by Straits Research into Recycled Cotton, Recycled Wool, Recycled Polyester, Recycled Nylon, and Others. Recycled Polyester is expected to command the largest market share during the forecast period, growing at a CAGR of 3.7 percent.

Straits Research separates end markets for the global recycled textile sector into Automotive, Retail, Mining, Building & Construction and Others categories. Retail is expected to own the largest market share, growing at a CAGR of 3.7 percent during the forecast period.

U.S.-based producer reports profitable results but expresses concern about global overcapacity.

Global aluminum producer Alcoa Corp., based in Pittsburgh, has reported what it calls record second-quarter 2022 financial results that include an 11 percent sequential increase in revenue and strong cash flow. However, Bloomberg also reports comments from the company indicating the aluminum arena remains full of unprofitable competitors.

In this year’s second quarter, Alcoa increased its revenue to $3.6 billion, while its net income increased to $549 million. That compares with slightly less than $3.3 billion in revenue in the prior quarter and net income that has increased by 17 percent from the $469 million earned in the first quarter of this year.

“We had a strong first half of 2022 with nearly $2 billion in adjusted EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] and cash flows that have enabled more buybacks under our existing stock repurchase program as well as continued quarterly dividend payments,” Alcoa President and CEO Roy Harvey says. “We have returned more than $380 million so far this year to our investors, and today we announced an additional $500 million authorization for future stock repurchases.”

While the current numbers are good, in its earnings call Harvey expressed concern about aluminum production’s profitability globally. Bloomberg reports that during a call with analysts this week, Harvey commented, “Based on June’s average prices, we estimate that between 10 percent to 20 percent of worldwide smelting capacity was underwater [unprofitable] last month.”

The Bloomberg report points to rising electricity costs in Europe and North America, fears of a recession and rolling COVID-19 lockdowns in China as reasons for potential oversupply. “International efforts to isolate Russia in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine have compounded the uncertainty about global aluminum supplies,” Bloomberg adds.

Two Michigan counties are incorporating recycled tires in asphalt used in paving projects, but that's not the only way tires are being repurposed in Michigan.

Rubber is meeting road not in the usual sense of tires rolling on pavement but in rubber from scrap tires becoming part of road surfaces in some areas of Michigan. Recent paving projects backed by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) in Bay and Clare counties are expanding Michigan’s use of rubber tire scrap in road resurfacing, keeping the materials out of landfills and shaping the highways of the future.

Elsewhere, plastic scrap has been integrated into asphalt as companies become more creative in finding end uses for plastic, rubber and other materials that have proven challenging to reuse in the past.

The projects in Bay and Clare counties also highlight a Michigan recycling milestone. As of 2022, the state’s major scrap tire processing businesses—about 10 in all—no longer send any regular scrap materials to landfills. Apart from small quantities too dirty or contaminated to be recycled, all the material is recovered and repurposed for use not only in road work but also as mulch and in rain gardens and septic fields; as weights for construction barrels and silage covers; in molded and extruded plastic products; as porous pavement for trails and pathways; and as tire-derived fuel.

“The scrap tire market in Michigan is in a transformation from managing scrap tires as a waste to creating economic value,” says Kirsten Clemens, scrap tire coordinator in EGLE’s Materials Management Division.

The repaving in Bay and Clare counties used material from about 59,500 tires on more than 5.5 miles of roadway. EGLE awarded Michigan Technological University a $396,000 grant for project design and testing. Each county’s road commission performed the paving work, resurfacing 4.5 miles of Seven Mile Road from E. Midland Road to E. Beaver Road in Bay County and 1.15 miles of W. Haskell Lake Road from Cook Avenue to Lake Station Avenue in Clare County. At both locations, the repaving was divided into sections to enable side-by-side comparison of the rubberized and conventional paving materials.

These two are far from the first such projects in Michigan. Last year alone, four Michigan counties completed rubberized local road projects using scrap from more than 30,000 tires. As far back as 2005 and 2006, Saginaw County rolled out a pair of 2-mile sections of rubberized asphalt. The Michigan Department of Transportation allows a portion of asphalt mixes to be recycled materials, but it is not required.

“We have about 20 years of projects, and we’ve got some really solid technology now,” Clemens says. “What we’re trying to do is expand the use by getting the material into the communities that need infrastructure solutions.”

The growing consensus is that rubber-modified paving is a winner for local roads. In 2019, EGLE helped fund a Michigan Tech project in Dickinson County to see how an asphalt-rubber mix would hold up to extreme Upper Peninsula weather. A study two years later found the pavement resists rutting during hot weather and cracking in the cold. Researchers will continue monitoring the project—which won a 2019 County Road Association of Michigan award—for 10 or more years.

Installation of rubber modified chip seal on Seven Mile Road in Bay County.

Plastic Energy will use Siemens’ end-to-end technology in future plants.

Munich-based Siemens and London-based Plastic Energy have partnered to help divert plastic scrap from landfills and incineration.

Plastics Energy uses a recycling process that transforms end-of-life plastics into recycled oils that can be used to make new plastic products, such as food-grade packaging. The patented technology currently is used in two plants in Spain where Siemens’ automation and measurement technology, including SIMATIC PCS 7 and COMOS MRO, ensure the smooth running of control systems and overcome the challenge of a complex mix of material consistency, Plastic Energy says.

To meet the growing demand for plastic recycling, Plastic Energy is building several larger facilities across Europe, Asia and the U.S., starting with one in The Netherlands with partner SABIC. These plants will be significantly upscaled and will feature Siemens’ end-to-end technology solutions, including distributed control systems (DCS), process instrumentation and low-voltage switchgear in the form of SIVACON S8 technology, Plastic Energy says.

The long-term collaboration will enable Plastic Energy to continually evolve its technology and process, implementing improvements for better efficiencies and product quality and achieve flexibility and scalability for its plant designs, the company says.

Plastic Energy also is working with Siemens to unlock further potential using a digital twin. This tool creates a virtual model to give better insights and closed loop optimization of process and plant performance.

Steve Leech, business manager for Siemens Process Control Systems, says, “We have viewed working with Plastic Energy as a long-term partnership from the beginning of our relationship, which brings together the process and industry knowledge of Plastic Energy, with our innovative technology portfolio. The result is a process plant that is flexible and provides the opportunity for value-add use of the data provided, through using SIMATIC PCS 7 and our instrumentation platforms. It is great to be involved with a company so focused on sustainability and contributing to a positive impact on the environment through recycling of plastic waste.”

Plastic Energy says its goal is to recycle 5 million metric tons of plastic scrap by 2030.