Dust Control & Environment

Michelin to recycle tyres into conveyor belts

Michelin will begin construction on its first tyre recycling plant, in collaboration with Swedish company Enviro, to recycle carbon black, oil, steel and gas into conveyor belts.

Based in Chile, the plant will be able to recycle 27,000 tonnes of earthmover tyres a year.

Scrap tyres will be collected directly from customer premises before being transported to the plant to be cut up and recycled.

Enviro’s technology, which produces new, reusable materials like carbon black, pyrolysis oil, gas and steel, will enable everything in an end-of-life tyre to be recovered for reuse.

Around 90 per cent of the recovered materials is to be reused in a variety of rubber-based products, such as tyres, conveyor belts and anti-vibration products. The remaining 10 per cent will be reused directly by the plant to generate its own-use heat and power.

Related stories:

Michelin Director of Marketing and Business Development, Hi-Tech Materials Sander Vermeulen said the recycling plant is a major milestone that will enable the company to offer customers a new-generation recycling solution

“We are currently in talks with several Chilean mining customers to sign long-term contracts,” Vermeulen said.

“By scaling up Enviro’s technology, we are offering them a solution that will support their environmental objectives and enables the development of a circular economy.”

Construction work will begin in 2021, with production scheduled to begin in 2023. More than US$30 million will be invested in building Michelin’s new-generation end-of-life tyre processing plant.

Send this to a friend