With a focus on recycling used tires, Michelin (Clermont-Ferrand, France; www.michelin.com) has announced a partnership with Swedish start-up company Enviro, which has developed a technology to modify the chemical composition and physical phase of the pneumatic material during the pyrolysis process, while ensuring minimal energy consumption.
This highly innovative technology enables to produce high-quality products such as recovered carbon black, pyrolysis oil, steel or gas, products that can then be re-incorporated into the production circuit of different industrial sectors. Thanks to this recycling technology, tires that are now considered as waste will be recycled into raw materials.
This partnership will allow the complementary know-how of the two companies to be pooled in order to accelerate progress in tire recycling. Michelin will bring its industrial know-how to the plant’s construction project and its know-how in terms of research and development and production. Enviro will bring its patented pyrolysis technology, which will produce high-quality products.
A Development Agreement between the two companies furthers the goal of deploying Enviro’s pyrolysis technology on a larger scale, including the construction of a new factory to industrialize the technology. The location of the plant will be confirmed at a later date. Michelin has also become the largest shareholder in Enviro, taking a greater than 20% stake in the Enrivo’s capital, a value around 32,526,262 SEK (around €3 million).
“The partnership we have just signed with Enviro fits perfectly with Michelin’s “All Sustainable” vision. After the acquisition of Lehigh Technologies in 2017, a specialist in high-tech micro-powders derived from recycled tires, this is a further proof of Michelin’s long-term commitment to recycling and sustainable mobility,”
Sonia Artinian-Fredou, Services and Solutions, High Technology Materials Business Director
Discussions are ongoing between the two companies with the objective to conclude a final agreement by mid-2020.