Colombia cuts ribbon on Latin America first large tire recycling plant

By Paul Ploumis (ScrapMonster Author)

July 25, 2016 08:36:02 PM

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Colombian mining major Carbones del Correjon Ltd. has announced opening of its new large tire recycling plant in Albania municipality in the northeastern province of La Guajira. The inauguration ceremony was held Friday and was headed by Vice President German Vargas. The plant has a capacity to recycle 2,360 tires per annum. The recycling plant is expected to produce approximately 2,300 tons of steel and nearly 5,000 tons of crumb rubber for use in construction of proposed new highways.

According to Carbones del Cerrejon CEO Roberto Junguito Pombo, the new plant will help the company to go an extra mile in terms of safer environmental practices and sustainable development initiatives. The plant, that recycles large tires weighing almost 3.5 tons and has a diameter of 10.5 feet, makes use of fully mechanical and non-polluting process. The rubber component in the asphalt blend ensures safety of roads and is expected to contribute significantly to environmental management, Pombo added. The project, financed by Bancolombia, was built by Indutrade Recycling. Cerrejon is believed to have invested nearly $4.5 million in building the recycling plant, the first of its kind in the entire Latin American region.

The press release issued by Carbones del Cerrejon stated that part of the production from the new plant will be exported to other countries in the Latin American region and also to some Asian countries. The company has already made commercial contacts with Chile, Brazil and South Korea for exports of crumb rubber.

Colombia's open pit coal mining company Carbones del Cerrejón engages in the exploration, production, transportation and shipment of thermal coal from high-grade coal deposits located in northern Colombia's Guajira department. It operates South America's largest coal mine, Cerrejón Zona Norte, as well as the Cerrejón Zona Central and Patilla mines. Carbones del Cerrejon is owned equally by Anglo-Australian resource group BHP Billiton, Glencore and Anglo American of South Africa.

Earlier in March this year, Perth-based Tytec Recycling had announced that it would open world’s first facility to recycle off the road (OTR) tires in environment-friendly manner. The facility employs new award-winning technology to convert outworn tires from mining and other agricultural equipment into high-quality marketable steel, diesel oil and carbon. The proposed facility is expected to open its doors in January next year.

Tytec Recycling is collaboration between Tytec Group and Green Distillation Technologies Corporation (GDTC). GDTC’s single step destructive distillation process feeds whole OTR tires into the plants feeder chambers before being lowered into the distillation reactors which extract the oil from the tyre. The reactors are heated using the continuous heating technology. This heating technology reclaims and reuses oil and heat from the reactors reducing overall energy consumption and emissions. After the distillation of the tire they are lowered into the separation destruction chamber where the carbon and steel are removed and separated.

Tytec Group for over 15 years has been providing, OTR tyre logistics, storage, retreading, repairs and tire solutions throughout Australia.