In 2017, Oman’s Be’ah waste management operation was seeking tenders for tyre recycling operations. Now, in 2021, Be’ah has appointed Al Affia Global Industries to process some of the huge stockpiles of scrap tyres. amassed at key dumpsites.
Oman’s Be’ah Appoints Tyre Recycler
Oman has, like Kuwait, had a growing issue with waste tyre stockpiles, particularly at Barka and Sur. There are already some tyre recycling operations in Oman, but this is a project that is targeting the large stockpiles that need larger scale operations to remedy the collections.
Al Affia Global Industries, a small and medium enterprise (SME) owned by Omani siblings Salem and Assad Al Araimi, will turn these huge mountains of end-of-life tyres at Barka and Sur, into valuable by-products.
The scrap automotive tyres will be first stripped of their steel wires for further recycling into an assortment of hardware merchandise, while the waste rubber recovered from the process is proposed to be converted into ‘rubber crumbs’ and exported as raw material to big markets like India for fuel production or use in a range of industrial applications.
The technology behind Al Affia Global’s cost-effective tyre recycling process is the brainchild of Muscat-based engineering specialist P T Sivarajan.
“It struck me that, with a bit of innovation, I could design an affordable version of a debeading machine typically used in stripping out steel wires from waste tyres,” remarked Sivarajan.
“I fashioned an Omani version of a debeading machine at one-fourth of the cost of a European equivalent,” he added.
“The equipment has since been licensed by the relevant authorities for use in Oman and will be employed by Al Affia Global in the preliminary processing of waste tyres at Barka and Sur,” said Sivarajan.
Al Affia Global aims to process an estimated 30,000 tonnes of waste tyres annually at facilities in Barka and Sur tyre dumpsites.
These plants are expected to yield around 4,000 tonnes of high-strength steel wire. The rubber component will be recovered via a cryogenic procedure that yields rubber in its original form with many of its properties intact, explained Sivarajan.
Al Affia Global then plans to invest in the manufacture of finished goods, such as springs and fences, utilising steel wires extracted from waste tyres, he added.
