Pyrum starts commissioning flagship ELT plant in Germany

DILLINGEN, Germany—Pyrum Innovations A.G. is set to complete the expansion project at its flagship end-of-life tire pyrolysis plant in Dillingen, which is to become the company's first of a series of industrial-scale tire recycling facilities.

The tire recycler has started commissioning the thermolysis recycling lines two and three, the construction of which started 20 months ago. The start of the compressed air supply is the prelude to gradual commissioning, said Pyrum in a June 16 statement.

Over the next few weeks, all other parts of the entire system will be gradually commissioned, a process which will include a cold start-up and the first test run of the reactors with production taking place.

Once fully operational, the plant will work as a "prototype" of a Pyrum thermolysis recycling plant, which the company aims to roll out across Europe, CEO Pascal Klein said.

According to Pyrum, two new thermolysis reactors were installed in the thermolysis tower of the production lines in February.

The heating elements were recently assembled, and since the beginning of June, the new shredder system also has been running at full capacity of 6 metric tons of used tires per hour. The hot commissioning of the pyrolysis plant with a gradual increase in production volumes is scheduled to start in August or September.

The company said it aims to deliver the first oil from the two new production lines to BASF by the end of the third quarter of 2023.

The final element is then the delivery and commissioning of the new mill and pelleting facility in the first half of 2024.

After a successful ramp-up phase, around 18,000 to 20,000 tons per year of ELTs will be processed at the site, recovering thermolysis gas, oil and recovered carbon black as well as steel from waste tires.