The UK’s Powerhouse Energy’s DMG pyrolysis project is ready for commercialisation.
Powerhouse Energy’s DMG Project to Produce Hydrogen from Tyres
Housed at Chester University’s Technology Park is the test facility for Powerhouse Energy’s DMG project. This is, for want of a better description, a high-temperature pyrolysis project.
Unlike most pyrolysis projects the aim here is to extract and refine the syngas rather than recover rCB, or oil. Executive Director David Ryan told Tyre and Rubber Recycling that the research was focussing on the end product rather than the process. “It is a question of how we use readily available equipment to attain the best end product. Powerhouse Energy has decided to focus on the gas offtake. We can draw off various useful gases and in our first DMG production facility, we expect to run at high temperatures and draw both methane and hydrogen.
“We will have a very low residual waste and we can reprocess the char to draw off as much value as we can, leaving just a small percentage for waste disposal.”
The process is being tested using non-recyclable plastics, largely from the automotive sector, but tests on tyre crumbs have also given positive results. Ryan says, “Tyres are ideal, they are (largely) uniform in content and there is no shortage of tyres to be recycled. If I can secure a feedstock of 20,000 tons a year, we can certainly look at a dedicated tyre operation.
“We need to find the right backers or partners. A large recycler would be an ideal neighbour for us. We don’t want to be shipping tyres long distances.
“The next step is finding the right location, the right partners and of course, the funding to take the project forward to the first production plant.”
A full article on the Powerhouse Energy Project will be featured in Tyre and Rubber Recycling.
