Need for Scrap Tyre Disposal Policy
The year 2020 has been a year like no other. The pandemic has brought everyone on the same platform. We all have been a mute witness to the rage of Nature and the apocalypse it can create. The question which persists in my mind is ‘Have we really learnt any lessons from the same?’ Are we going to treat Mother Earth better and build a sustainable planet for our future generation?
On a brighter note, most economies are showing signs of phenomenal recovery. The automobile sector looks to be one of the biggest beneficiaries. Vehicular traffic on the road and the number of new vehicle registrations are a big indicator of the same. In fact, an Indian two-wheeler manufacturer broke its own export record in December 2020. Our belief has proved true again. The human race has endured many such pandemics throughout the years of evolution and evolved better, stronger, smarter construction projects.
Processing ELTs
Indogreen Enviro has been involved in the process of ELTs (End of life Tyres) for about a decade. We have been witnessing the growth of the tyre recycling industry. From the 1970-2000, the majority of organised ELT recycling was about making ‘Devulcanised rubber reclaim sheets.’ These sheets are used in a wide range of applications like tyre re-treads, bicycle tyres, conveyor belts, rubber compounds to name a few.
From 2000 onwards the market started changing due to the introduction of radial tyres. The radial tyres had high tensile steel in them and now could not be grinded directly like Mt/day. That would mean a requirement of 10,00,000 passenger car tyres every day, to give a perspective. This monster had a huge appetite that could not be met with tyres from India. So these pyrolysis companies started looking for imported tyres with a perpetual supply possibility from round the globe.
There was only one challenge. The pyrolysis plants are not allowed to import tyres. The shredding companies were allowed to import with a license from DGFT. The batch type pyrolysis companies started buying container loads of tyres from the shredding companies. India started importing about 900,000
ELT can create high quality reclaim rubber, High calorific value oil with possibility on further hydro treatment to distil commercial grade diesel & petrol, commercial grade carbon black for manufacturing pigments, etc, liberated fibre to make thermoplastics, liberated gases that can be further processed, this can go on and on. There is so much of interest from large companies to set up plants to process this waste but they hesitate because of the lack of a government framework to support the huge capital investment required.
Despite all odds, some companies from India have done some amazing work in developing innovative ELT recycling technologies. A fine example would be Radhe Renewable Energy Development Ltd, Rajkot. They conceived, developed and now operate the ‘World Largest 100 MT Per Day Single Reactor Continuous Pyrolysis Plant ‘ for the last 8 years in Bhilwara, Rajasthan. No other company from around the globe can boast of this feat. In fact some of the large global giants who were looking for a commercial scale large continuous plant could not believe that such a plant and technology existed, that too from a non-descript town from India. This company now supplies ASTM grade Carbon Black and High Calorie fuel to Indian tyre industry beginning the ‘Circular Economy.’
Another interesting Company is Hotfut Sports, an award-winning sports infrastructure development and management company that has been one of the largest consumers of turf technology and synthetic turf products across its various formats. These products have a primary infill requirement of SBR rubber. HotFut has consciously been adapting its procurement process to ensure all SBR and infill / shock-pad requirements are sourced responsibly using recycled ELT’s / rubber scrap making all their facilities more environmentally friendly. They have structured solutions for forward thinking tyre companies wanting to pro-actively process their ELT.
They need new technology Shredders, Raspers, Granulators to make it ready for grinding. This decade saw many high technology shredding and granulation plants coming up across the country. This included India’s largest and fully automated 100 Mt/annum plant till date Vapi, Gujarat. These granulation plants created a new market for ELT granulesbased playground tiles and mats. The RMB(Crumb Rubber Modified Bitumen) also gained acceptance in large national road construction projects.
– Rahul Shringarpure