Korean Trio to Develop Pyrolysis Operation
SK Energy and SK Networks announced on April 15 that they will partner with Korea’s number one retread tyre producer, Daeho Industries to establish a low-carbon circular system that makes use of waste tyres.
According to the agreement, the three parties will review the measures to improve the collection and supply system of waste tyres in South Korea, and assess the feasibility of the pyrolysis process that creates Carbon Black and pyrolysis oil.
Currently, South Korea sees about 380,000 tons of waste tyres (about 30 million tyres) every year, and most of them are processed as industrial solid-state fuel, while some are incinerated and reused as fillers and retreaded tyres.
However, natural rubber, which is one of the main ingredients of waste tyres, is recognised as a biogenic resource. This means the companies can create additional values by producing eco-friendly products out of this main ingredient recycled from the waste tyres. In particular, given the global trend of encouraging the usage of eco-friendly energy sources, recycled fuel oil that is produced from the waste tyres is in the limelight for being one of the many alternatives.
The three companies will check the potential of the establishment and operation of a pyrolysis oil plant in consideration of the growth prospect of a circular economy utilising the waste tyres. Moreover, they plan to look further into several other measures to use the pyrolysis oil and the recovered Carbon Black (rCB) that are produced from pyrolysing the waste tyres.
SK Energy will mainly focus on the ways to produce various products, such as eco-friendly naphtha and air fuel, by additionally refining the pyrolysis oil. Daeho Industries will be in charge of developing various measures to utilise the rCB whose demand is on the rise inside and outside the country. In addition, SK Networks will supply waste tyres generated from about 650 business sites of SpeedMate, the company’s total car-care service brand, for the pyrolysis business.
“I am pleased to discuss measures to create a circular economy for recycling waste tyres in the country with Daeho Industries, the leading company for recapped tires in Korea,” said Hong Jeong-eui, Head of Net Zero Office, SK Energy. He added, “I hope that this business cooperation will serve as the chance to secure business opportunities for pyrolysis oil from waste tyres and eco-friendly products. Also, I hope that we will contribute to accomplishing SK’s goal of Net Zero.”
Chang Young-wook, Head of SpeedMate Business, SK Networks, said, “Up until now, tyre recycling only meant cutting them into little pieces or deforming them and using them for other purposes. But now, I look forward to expanding the recycling of tyre resources and contributing to cutting down the greenhouse gas emissions.”
Moreover, Park Jong-hyuk, President of Daeho Industries, mentioned, “Once we create a virtuous cycle of resources such as rCB and pyrolysis oil that are acquired from pyrolysing the waste tyres, we expect that we would be able to accomplish the ESG management through creating the social value and establishing the low-carbon society.”
