Henning Nørgaard (Area Sales Manager, Eldan Recycling) with Ravi Narayan (Director of Projects, Ferrostaal India)
[Article from ScrapBook Autumn 2011]
Eldan Recycling is focusing on India. During the autumn, two complete tyre recycling plants have been installed in Mumbai, and there is already a noticeable increase in the demand for equipment. By introducing Eldan recycling equipment onto the Indian market, we are planning on reshaping their views on recycling in a revolutionary way over the next few years. At the exhibition Tyre Expo India in Chennai this July, customer requests and feedback supported this prediction, and our participation at the show was declared a success.
Up to 24 sizes of recycled rubber
Eldan has been active in the development and manufacturing of tyre recycling equipment for more than 25 years. The first complete tyre granulation plant was installed some 20 years ago, and since then over 200 plants have been installed all over the world.
For tyre recyclers, the main priority is getting at the rubber. The cleaner the material is, the more reuse potential and value it has. When reducing scrap tyres in size, the non-rubber fractions (e.g. textile, steel, nylon) are liberated in the automated process. The smaller the granulate gets, the cleaner it gets, i.e. depending on how pure an output the buyer requires, the material can be further reduced in size. Our process and technology focus is on “output per customer requirements”.
During the autumn of 2011, Eldan supplied two complete tyre recycling systems to customers in India, and additional projects are in the pipeline. “Due to the huge potential in the tyre recycling area in India, there was a unanimous decision at Eldan to take part in Tyre Expo India in Chennai. I knew that the exhibition would give us many interesting leads, but I must admit that it far exceeded my expectations. We’re already discussing a lot of interesting projects for the future” says Henning Nørgaard, Area Sales Manager at Eldan. “As the recycling industry is already well-developed in India, we had many well-informed visitors to our booth and we had a lot of good discussions with them.”
Depending on requirements on input and output capacity, or output size and quality, Eldan offers standard or customized plant solutions according to customer’s needs. These are “multi-size plants” - giving the customer complete control over the production of a various range of output sizes. Different sizes of rubber granulate and powder can be produced, meeting all the needs a customer might have. Changing the output size is easily achieved, by the quick and simple changing of the screen combination in the machines. The various output products (i.e. shreds, chips, granulate and powder) each have their own application areas in the recycling industry. Tyre chips can be used for tyre derived fuel (TDF), while rubber granulate can be found in artificial football fields. Granulate output is 99,9% free from e.g. steel and textile.
Additional equipment can be used to further clean the rubber, steel and textile. The rubber can be turned into powder, at sizes down to 50 MESH, and up to 99,99% free of textile and steel. The steel can be cleaned (to 98-99% free from textile and rubber) and reused in steel works.
Steel cleaning opportunities in India
Tyre recycling is not unknown in India, but automated processes to achieve outputs of 99.99% pure granulate are only now starting to evolve, with the advent of Eldan’s plant in India. According to statistics from the Indian Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association, overall domestic tyre production is forecast to increase in revenue in the coming years. The quantity of scrap tyres will increase as a result of the number of new cars. “India is a very interesting market for Eldan, and we see great potential in this area in the coming years” says Henning. “Firstly, the use of cars is not going to go down in this expanding region, so there’s going to be more tyres to recycle. Secondly, there’s still a lot happening in the application areas that use recycled tyres - we hear about new ways of reusing the material every day, and it seems like only the sky is the limit here. Thirdly, the tyre and car industries are moving towards using radial tyres, which contain steel and textile, instead of the current traditional Indian diagonal nylon tyres. This is going to create a new demand for steel cleaning equipment in India. It’s been predicted that by 2015, about 45 percent of these tyres will contain steel. Even though a lot of tyre manufacturers already have recycling equipment, they are going to have to extend their lines to include steel cleaning.”
Eldan is represented in India by Ferrostaal India Private Limited, a global company providing industrial services worldwide. As system integrators, Ferrostaal is not dependent on any one technology, and their business focuses on strong core businesses in the fields of; projects, trading & services, and assembly solutions. Decades of international experience in equipment solutions make Ferrostaal an ideal partner for Eldan. Apart from their insight into the region’s industries, Ferrostaal also offers Eldan customers the whole range of services: from consulting, solution design and tailor-made financing solutions, to installation and local after-sales services. Ferrostaal has its own offices in more than 40 countries, on all continents, and projects are realised by about 5300 employees.
Ravi Narayan, Director of Projects at Ferrostaal’s India Office, is well versed in the recycling process of the region; “In India, waste is not just waste anymore, and everyone from SME’s to large industries, as well as investors at large, have realized that there is a huge opportunity not just to earn money in this business, but also to contribute to our government’s endeavour towards creating a pollution-free and less hazardous environment. I see a continued interest and growth in all recycling fields, but in particular for scrap tyres. I’ve had many questions on the production of granulate and powder, including use of the end product, from a very diversified industry. Many potential customers are impressed by how power-efficient the process is, and the fact that it’s so easy to operate and maintain. I predict that interest for cleaning the steel from waste tyres is going to explode soon...”
