A Norwegian company building a waste tyre recycling plant in Sunderland has announced a €2m grant as part of a collaboration with a Swedish engineering company.
Wastefront AS was co-founded in Oslo three years ago by former Sunderland University student Christian A. Hvamstad, on a mission to create useful commodities for manufacturing industries from old tyres. The innovative company announced plans to open it first plant at Port of Sunderland two years ago, with the construction stage expected to generate around 100 jobs and, once fully up and running in 2025, a further 30 full-time members of staff needed to run the site.
Now – six months after announcing an agreement with Gateway Resources which guarantees supply of end-of-life-tyres – the firm has announced a collaboration with Swedish chemical firm Hulteberg Chemistry & Engineering AB. The firms will work together on oil purification project Hyfuel, which purifies pyrolysis oil – the oil extracted from the old tyres.
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The €2m grant comes from funding R&D programme Eureka Eurostars, and the Norwegian Research Council and the Swedish Innovation Agency. The total project-funding amounts to €2.076m, with €1.038m from Eurostars and €1.038m from project partners. The funds will be used to further develop a novel catalyst approach to purify pyrolysis oil, and other potential uses of the renewable biofuel, Tyre Derived Oil (TDO), which is extracted from end-of-life-tyres (ELTs).
The company said that, while the TDO that Wastefront typically produces is valuable and qualifies as a biofuel under price premium schemes, the pre-treatment of pyrolysis feed and upgrading of TDO means that Hyfuel’s tyre pyrolysis oil can be used as a substitution for diesel fuel without the need for further refining. It also does not require high temperatures for operation, which represents lower energy consumption, lower carbon emissions, and a better alternative for the environment.
Henrik Selstam, CTO of Wastefront said that the grant announcement marks an important step in its mission to accelerate the development of its oil quality and sustainable solutions portfolio. The news also comes after Wastefront announced a partnership with Newcastle University for an 18-month study into how the production of recovered carbon black can be improved.
Mr Selstam said: “We’ve been very excited about this project and we feel privileged to be closely collaborating with Hulteberg, a company with vast experience in standard-bearing renewable projects. The purification of pyrolysis oil is a critical next step for our industry as we strive to implement greener, more efficient ways to utilise end-of-life-tyres, which too often still end up in landfills or being burnt in cement kilns.
“Groundbreaking projects like this, underpinned by collaboration, innovation and intent at their core, are undoubtedly the key to realising the net-zero transition at the pace the future of our planet so clearly requires.”
Christian Hulteberg, founder and managing director of Hulteberg, added: “We’ve been continually impressed with the forward-thinking vision Wastefront has conveyed for tyre recycling ever since its inception, so the decision to partner with them on this innovative and trailblazing project was an easy one. We’re confident our collaboration can pave the way for even more advanced processes for the utilisation of ELTs, and present a significant opportunity to preserve our planet’s natural resources with a renewed emphasis on circularity.”
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