Plans announced for “emission free” tyre recycling facility

The plant is being established at an industrial estate at Baglan in South Wales, and will use liquid nitrogen to freeze used tyres, making them brittle enough to shatter into rubber crumb.

Credential Environmental director Andy Hinton (left) with BOC director Danny Kingston announce the new joint venture

Expected to open in early 2007, it will process 30,000 tonnes of used tyres each year, which will be made into artificial sports surfaces.

The facility is being developed and run by new company TyreGenics Ltd, a joint venture between tyre collection and recycling specialists Credential Environmental and partners BOC Gases and FieldTurf Inc.

Credential is to have the majority share of the new company, with BOC Gases contracted to supply liquid nitrogen for the plant. Cryogenic equipment for the facility is being provided by Canadian firm RTI Cryogenics.

Surfaces
Rubber crumb from the process will be used by FieldTurf Inc, also a Canadian company, which has manufactured sports surfaces for the likes of Barcelona Football Club, the Denver Broncos, New York Jets and many Premiership training grounds in the UK.

With 1.4 million in support from the European Union's Objective One regeneration fund, the facility is expected to create at least 20 jobs.

Andy Hinton, of Credential Environmental's parent group Ailsa3, will become chairman of the new company. Ailsa3's Nick Wyatt will become managing director of TyreGenics.

Mr Wyatt said: “As well as the jobs created directly in South Wales, this will bring jobs to our plants at Breighton, near Selby, and Durham. We expect to turnover around 5m in our first full production year with one plant, but we are already looking at other sides in the UK and Europe.”

” We are already looking at other sides in the UK and Europe. “
– Nick Wyatt, TyreGenesis Ltd
Freezing
BOC Gases will supply liquid nitrogen from its plant four miles away in Margam, South Wales. The company explained that the process freezes tyres to minus 100 degrees centigrade, making them brittle enough to be hammered into small crumbs.

Although the transport and shredding of tyres will create emissions, BOC said that the central process in the technology, using liquid nitrogen, creates none of the harmful emissions associated with the burning of tyres or existing tyre recycling processes that heat tyres to break them down.

Danny Kingston, director of BOC, said: “Recovering material from discarded tyres using liquid nitrogen is still in its infancy, but by combining resources and expertise, the TyreGenics partners have been able to commercialise the technology quickly and effectively.

“We believe this facility will generate further interest in the environmental and commercial opportunities of this recovery technology,” Mr Kingston added.