Big Atom advances new tire pyrolysis project in UK

Wakefield, UK – Clean-tech recycling startup Big Atom has filed a planning application to build a waste tire pyrolysis plant near Wakefield, west Yorkshire.

London-headquartered Big Atom has already established a tire recycling and pyrolysis operation, based at Ellesmere Port in the north west of England.

According to the application, the new operation will be sited on a 1.7 hectare site at Knottingly, with the six-month construction phase to start in 2023.

This will be subsequently followed by a six-month phase allocated for commissioning, the 16 May filing to Wakefield Council also shows.

Once fully operational, the Big Atom unit will have capacity to process 27 kilotonne per annum (ktpa) of scrap tires: into steel, pyrolysis oil and recovered carbon black.

"During the operational phase, the facility would provide direct employment for around 43 staff," according to the planning document.

Big Atom stated that the facility will include a number of environmental features, with pyrolysis gas helping to meet heat and power requirements for the site.

Also, solar panels on the roofs of all buildings will generate 100MWh of power and offset 13.7 tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum.

The filing went on to reference industry data estimating that around 50 million tires are sold in the UK each year, with car tires representing 86% of the total.

It also cited UK Environment Agency (EA) data for 2019, showing that over 563 kilotonnes (kt) of end of life tires (ELTs) were received at waste management facilities in England.

Of this amount, 90kt was received and combusted directly at incineration and co-incineration facilities, including cement plants; 337kt sent directly to treatment facilities; and 129kt at transfer stations.

The EA figures, it noted, also indicated that over 261kt of ELTs were exported from waste management facilities for processing or disposal overseas.