Black Bear appoints new chief technology officer

Nederweert, The Netherlands – Dutch tire recycler Black Bear Carbon has appointed Victor Vreeken as its new chief technology officer (CTO) in a bid to accelerate the scaling up of its tire-carbonisation technology. 

Vreeken joins Black Bear from Dutch biotechnology company Avantium, where he worked for eight years, most recently serving as the company’s chief operations officer (COO) for Renewable Polymers business.

In that role, Vreeken was responsible for the development and scale-up of Avantium’s technology for the conversion of sugars to plastics. 

Prior to that he held various positions at Dutch chemicals company DSM both in operational and commercial functions.

Welcoming Vreeken to Black Bear, Silvio Ghyoot, CEO Black Bear Carbon, said the new CTO would be “instrumental in designing and executing our technology vision and goals as we enter 2020”.

Based in Nederweert, Black Bear has developed a technology with a unique carbonisation process to produce recycled carbon black (rCB) from end-of-life tires.

The company currently operates an industrial-scale prototype plant in partnership with tire recycler Kargro, and is in the process of setting up a new tire recovery plant in the Dutch port of Rotterdam.

Black Bear’s existing plant, located in Nederweert, can process more than 1 million tires annually, and the rCB produced is already used by companies such as AkzoNobel.

Additionally, the company has raised funds for “international growth”, with the ambition to scale up its technology across Europe and the Middle East.