Scanship, Murfitts advance plans to establish major tire pyrolysis plant

Oslo – Scanship AS, part of Norwegian environmental technology group Vow ASA, has signed a deal with UK tire recycler Murfitts to advance pyrolysis technology for end-of-life tires (ELTs).

The front-end engineering design (FEED) agreement involves the design & construction of a "large-scale" pyrolysis plant to be operational in 2026, Vow announced 4 Sept.

The partners aim to produce recovered carbon black (rCB) for use in the production of new tires and tire pyrolysis oil (TPO) to be used as sustainable fuels and syngas at the facility.

The contract is the latest step in a cooperation between the two companies towards developing a process to recover and re-use raw materials from ELTs on a commercial scale.

Based in Lakenheath, Suffolk, Murfitts is part of the European Tyre Enterprise Ltd group (ETEL), owned by Japan’s Itochu Corp., which also owns tire aftermarket retailer Kwik Fit and wholesaler Stapleton.

In December 2022, Vow and ETEL signed a deal to build tire pyrolysis facilities, with the first project to be located at the Lakenheath headquarters of Murfitts.

Under the deal, Vow is to deliver its Biogreen reactor technology for ‘modularised and scalable’ factories, while ETEL will contribute expertise in tire recycling and supply to the project.

The partners envisage that the ELT pyrolysis plants will be deployed initially in Europe, with the construction programme then extended to North America and Japan.

The contract represents “a significant milestone in our cooperation,” according to Mark Murfitt, CEO of Murfitts Industries.

The investment, he said, will deliver “a plant which can meet the needs of manufacturers at a commercial scale… with confidence in the quality and quantity of the recovered material.”