Abandoned tires present notable environmental and health hazards, gathering in landfills and contaminating ecosystems with harmful substances. The volume of tire waste currently surpasses the capacity of existing recycling initiatives, with more than half of Europe's waste either incinerated or shipped to Asia and Africa for environmentally detrimental disposal. This highlights the urgent requirement for innovative approaches in tire waste management. Additionally, the rising popularity of electric vehicles is poised to compound the tire waste issue, as tires used for electric vehicles degrade at a faster rate.

CIRCTEC, a technology company based in the UK, has pioneered an exclusive technology for breaking down used tires using pyrolysis. This process involves converting waste into valuable circular materials through thermal decomposition in an oxygen-free setting, while also upgrading the resulting products into high-quality recycled chemicals and renewable fuels.

Having secured the funding, CIRCTEC will proceed to build Europe's most extensive end-of-life tire pyrolysis recycling plant in Delfzijl, the Netherlands. Once operational at its maximum capacity, the Delfzijl facility will address around 5% of the 3.6 million tons of end-of-life tires produced annually in Europe.

CIRCTEC's technology presents a scalable remedy to the worldwide tire waste challenge, promoting circularity and curbing greenhouse gas emissions. The upcoming Delfzijl facility is poised to slash emissions equivalent to roughly 3% of the greenhouse gas emissions from the entire chemical industry sector in the Netherlands.

During its pyrolysis process, CIRCTEC generates (i) its exclusive sustainable marine fuel HUPATM, (ii) circular naphtha tailored for eco-friendly plastics, polymers, and chemicals, and (iii) premium-grade recovered carbon black for reintroduction into tire, rubber, and plastics production.

CIRCTEC has previously disclosed enduring offtake agreements with BP for its sustainable marine fuel and circular naphtha products, and with Birla Carbon, one of the world's largest carbon black producers, for the recovered carbon black. This ensures that the entire production from the upcoming Delfzijl plant is already committed for sale.

CIRCTEC stands as a forefront innovator and operator in pyrolysis technology, dedicated to transforming waste into renewable fuels and circular chemicals, thus championing the energy transition and the transition towards a circular economy. Operating across five European countries, the CIRCTEC group currently runs two commercial demonstration plants, with a third flagship-scale plant underway in the Netherlands. Alongside production facilities, the CIRCTEC group encompasses design & engineering as well as research & development units, prioritizing not only the scaling of its tire waste chemical recycling process but also the adaptation of the process to other waste sources. Established in 2009 by British pioneers in industrial decarbonization, Allen Timpany and Robert Harper, CIRCTEC's proprietary production technologies, notably its CIFRTM pyrolysis reactor system, have matured to commercial scale, supplying renewable fuel and circular chemical products to various global multinational industrial partners. With a core commitment to innovation and technological advancement, CIRCTEC leads the way in scaling sustainability across the chemical and renewable fuels sectors.