Enefit Power, a subsidiary of the state-owned Eesti Energia, has put on pause the use of shredded tyres as a source of oil production, citing fluctuations in the quality of the end product
Andres Vainola, board chair at Enefit Power, said; “Enefit Power has been using chipped tyres along with oil shale in its oil production since last summer.”
“We have conducted various analysis, including the chemical composition of the oil. We have consequently noticed that different laboratory results reveal variations in the content of some oil components,” Vainola went on, speaking at the opening of a tyre chip plant, operated by private sector firm Ragn-Sells, in Kunda, Ida-Viru County.
“This discrepancy is the result of differences in measurement methodologies.”
“In our effort to offer the market a product with a consistent and verified composition, we are conducting additional oil composition analyses. We have paused the use of tyre chips until we receive further results from the laboratories,” he added.
“This is a circular economy project which has great potential, and to revive and implement similar projects more broadly, it is vital that the regulatory environment becomes more flexible and thereby promotes the introduction of new solutions,” Vainola went on, referring to the complexity of EU bureaucracy.
Eesti Energia announced the introduction of shredded tyres as a source of oil for the Enefit 140 plant in the summer of 2016. In 2023, a deal was made to import chipped tyres from Sweden.
Source: EER
