A technical and economic feasibility study of a novel, patented tyre recycling plant using molten zinc named TyRec was executed. It was found that the minimum throughput of a commercial scale TyRec plant located in Europe is 40,000 t/y. Such a plant achieves an internal rate of return (IRR) of 29%. The uptime of the plant is assumed to be 85% or 7,500 hours per year, the discount rate is 10%, cost of capital 6% and the inflation rate 3%. The total capital investment is estimated to be €28.3m or €38.6m if the cost of capital is included. The IRR can be increased further by increasing the throughput of the plant beyond 40,000 t/y. The sale prices for the recycled carbon black (rCB) is €20/t to be sold as fuel to coal fired power stations, €255/t for the pyrolysis oil (P-oil) which is similar to Fuel Oil No. 6 and €80/t for the steel. The tipping fee is €90/t.
As a 40,000 t/y plant is economic, a full scale plant may be build. Subsequently measures to upgrade the P-oil and rCB may be put in place to further increase the profitability of the plant. Hence upgrades can be assessed on materials actually produced by the real plant, rather than materials obtained from relatively controlled, small scale laboratory or pilot plants reducing the risk of any upgrade proposals for an operator.
The process uses molten zinc to recycle whole tyres within 30 minutes (no shredding or any other pre-treatment). The steel sinks in the zinc whereas the rCB floats on it. The rCB is removed with the pyrolysis gases from the chamber. The pilot plant testing and analysis of the products (P-oil, rCB and steel) showed that the product qualities are within expectations.
The main risk is the continuous operation of the plant – an operation, which can only be shown on a demonstration scale unit; minimised by pilot plant testing. The main objective of the study, establishing the technical, environmental and the economic feasibility of the TyRec process is achieved.
