Waste tires: "black pollution" is turning into "black gold"

A few days ago, the Ministry of Public Security released data that by the end of September 2022, the number of motor vehicles in the country reached 412 million, including 315 million cars
.
While the number of motor vehicles is rising rapidly, China's waste tire production is also increasing
year by year.
How to realize the comprehensive utilization of waste tires, and widely use its products and extended products as important renewable resources in rubber, transportation and construction fields, has become a long-term topic
that needs to be studied for circular economy and sustainable development of China's rubber industry.

How did waste tires change from "black pollution" to "black gold" today? How should the comprehensive utilization industry of waste tires achieve healthy development? Recently, the reporter of "China Chemical Industry News" interviewed relevant experts and enterprises
.

Capacity expansion, rising prices, former pollution turned into "gold"

Waste tires were once called "black pollution" and "white pollution" together with waste plastic.

It is a non-degradable solid waste containing heavy metal elements; At the same time, stacked tires can easily cause fires, once ignited, it is difficult to control and extinguish, and will also produce smoke and toxic oily pollutants, which will affect
the environment.

With the development of technology and the enhancement of people's awareness of energy conservation and environmental protection, the comprehensive utilization industry of waste tires has received more and more attention
from the market.
Many countries have formed a relatively mature waste tire recycling and treatment system, and the production capacity of related industries is also expanding
.
On October 5, German Prum Innovation Company issued an announcement that it will build two more pyrolysis production lines; Sweden's Scandinavian Invero Systems announced that it will build 30 waste tire recycling plants by 2030; Japanese tire manufacturer Bridgestone also announced that it has formulated a waste tire recycling plan, aiming to build a production line with an annual output of 100,000 tons of waste tires in 2027~2030, and realize the commercialization
of waste tire recycling after 2030.

At the same time, the purchase price of domestic scrap tires is also rising
.
According to statistics, on October 20, the price of scrap wire tires above 9.
00 inches in some parts of China exceeded 2,000 yuan / ton, nearly double
that of 2020.
What was once "black pollution" seems to be transforming into "black gold"
.

Mature technology, resource demand The popularity of the reclaimed rubber industry is increasing

As solid waste, where is the recycling value of waste tires? Why did the purchase price go all the way?

The reporter learned from the China Rubber Industry Association that part of the increase in the price of waste tires is due to the continued high price of
international bulk raw materials.
According to statistics, in 2021, China's natural rubber output will be 851,000 tons, while the demand will be 5.
949 million tons, which is nearly 7 times the output, and the self-sufficiency rate is seriously insufficient
.
At the same time, with the rise in the price of raw materials such as upstream coal tar, the price of domestic carbon black has also risen in recent years, and from January to December 2021, the price of carbon black has risen by nearly 20%; As of October 27 this year, the average price of carbon black in the national mainstream market was 11,700 yuan per ton, an increase of 22.
5%
over the quotation at the beginning of the year.
In the case of high prices of natural rubber and carbon black, many manufacturers will take measures to add recycled materials to reduce costs, and 70% of China's total recycled rubber raw materials come from waste car tires
.

It is understood that the production of recycled rubber is a relatively mature and widely used way
to deal with waste tires.
After recycling metal resources such as steel wire, waste tires will undergo crushing, recycling (desulfurization) and refining processes to be made into recycled rubber, and then mixed with compounding agents and raw rubber to produce rubber products
.
Statistics from the Waste Rubber Comprehensive Utilization Branch of China Rubber Industry Association show that in September 2022, China's ordinary recycled rubber output reached 47,000 tons, special recycled rubber output reached 6,000 tons, and special recycled rubber output reached 11,000 tons
.

"Although the recycled rubber produced by waste tires cannot completely replace natural rubber to produce tires, it can replace a small amount of filler to produce rubber products
under the premise of no adverse effect on the performance of use.
" Industry experts said that in actual production, recycled rubber is mainly used to produce non-load reusable tires such as agricultural vehicle tires and force tires, as well as hoses, rubber shoes and other products
.
Especially for low-speed agricultural vehicle tires, replacing the filler with tire recycled rubber in small quantities can partially reduce the production cost
of enterprises when the index meets the requirements.
At the same time, the small amount of recycled rubber can improve the processing properties
such as the extrusion of the rubber material.

In the future, with the improvement of the process level and the drive of market demand, recycled rubber products will penetrate into building materials, automotive interiors and other fields, and the waste tire recycling industry will also usher in expansion
.

Policies attract "dual carbon" to drive enterprises into the pyrolysis track

In April this year, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation issued the "Catalogue of VAT Incentives for Products and Labor Services for Comprehensive Utilization of Resources", which added tax rebate incentives for the production of recycled oil and pyrolysis carbon black from waste tires and waste rubber products, with a tax rebate rate of 70%.

Therefore, a number of enterprises such as Linglong Tire and China Chemical have entered the waste tire pyrolysis track
under the attraction of policies.
Since 2019, the pyrolysis of waste tires has ushered in a round of investment boom, and the production capacity of related projects announced by various places has exceeded 3 million tons
.

The relevant person in charge of Exda (Qingdao) Holdings Co.
, Ltd.
introduced that a waste steel wire tire can produce 40% primary oil, 30% environmentally friendly carbon black, 20% steel wire and about 10% combustible gas
through cracking.
Among them, pyrolysis oil and gas products can produce non-standard diesel after refining, which is used in diesel burners, generators, agricultural machinery or as light fuel oil instead of standard diesel; Pyrolysis carbon black can partially replace industrial carbon black
after grinding, modification, granulation and drying.

In addition, the implementation of "dual carbon" related policies has further promoted the development of
the waste tire pyrolysis industry.

In the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Establishment and Improvement of a Green and Low-carbon Circular Development Economic System, the State Council proposed to strengthen the recycling of waste plastics, waste tires and other renewable resources
.
Industry insiders said that the recycling of waste tire resources can effectively reduce carbon emissions in the primary production process, and if the environmentally friendly carbon black produced by the cracking of waste tires can replace one-third of industrial carbon black, it can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 6.
3 million tons
per year.
The sustainability report released by Birla Carbon of India also shows that enhanced recycled carbon black (rCB), recovered from the pyrolysis of waste tires, can reduce CO2 emissions by 3.
1 tons
per ton compared to the traditional carbon black manufacturing process.
Therefore, the business related to the recycling of waste tires will help enterprises gain an advantage
in the future carbon emission trading market.

Classified disposal, echelon utilization The development of the industry should also be scientific and orderly

On October 20, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued an announcement approving and publicizing 1,036 industry standards, including the "Evaluation Requirements for Green Factories in the Recycled Rubber Industry" to be implemented in April 2023, to guide and standardize
the implementation of green manufacturing in recycled rubber factories.
Under the background of complex market situation at home and abroad and increasing pressure on environmental protection, the comprehensive utilization industry of waste tires is currently in a critical period of
transformation.

"The cost of long-distance transportation of waste tires is high, and there is an economic radius
of 350 kilometers.
The current large-scale capacity expansion will inevitably cause some projects to have difficulties in the supply of raw materials and insufficient
starts.
Qi Xuezhi, secretary general of the Waste Rubber Comprehensive Utilization Branch of China Rubber Industry Association, believes that thermal cracking or recycled rubber is not the only solution to achieve recycling, and industry expansion should also strengthen supervision, focusing on solving the current problem
of disorderly competition between pyrolysis and rubber powder and recycled rubber manufacturers for raw materials 。 At the same time, it is necessary to adhere to the principle of priority of resource utilization, as far as possible, use natural rubber as the main component of truck and bus tires for the production of rubber powder and recycled rubber, passenger tires with synthetic rubber as the main component, and waste bicycle tires, tricycle tires and conveyor belts, rubber shoes, rubber miscellaneous parts, etc.
with relatively complex composition and difficult to be recycled by pyrolysis to achieve more thorough recycling
.

"The development of the waste tire recycling industry should strictly abide by the principles of priority of reduction, resource utilization and harmless disposal in accordance with the comprehensive utilization mode of classified disposal and echelon utilization, and follow the scientific and orderly development ideas
of achieving clean and environmental protection in the production process and safe and green in the utilization link.
" Qi Xuezhi said
.