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Disposing of scrap tyres is an environmental nightmare: one Welsh

24th March 1994, Page 48
24th March 1994
Page 48
Page 49
Page 48, 24th March 1994 — Disposing of scrap tyres is an environmental nightmare: one Welsh
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

dump is still burning after eight years. But a Wolverhampton company run by an American may have the answer—why not turn them into electricity?

44 ur plant is like a

good old dog; it

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&TYRES

eats anything," says Anne Evans, the American-born managing director of Wolverhamptonbased Elm Energy, the UK's first power station generating electricity by burning scrap tyres. It will never solve the UK's energy problems; even when two more Elm power stations open in 1996 the impact on national fuel demands will be negligible.

But that isn't the point. The project is a Government-backed attempt to solve the growing problems created by the 25 million tyres discarded each year in the UK.

One tyre dump in Wales is still burning eight years on, despite all attempts to extinguish it, and tyres leech pollutants into the air and water even when they are not alight. Elm says its project has crossparty backing and it certainly gets a vote of confidence from Dennis Turner, Labour MP for Wolverhampton South East "The Black Country, with its derelict land problem, has always had more than its fair share of waste tyres, which have spoiled our landscape and on occasion caused serious fire hazards," he says. "The use of these waste tyres to create energy and supply electricity to over 25,000 homes is a revolutionary and exciting development."

As Anne Evans readily admits, the amount of electricity required to fuel 25,000 homes is no more than tyre manufacturer Goodyear uses in its nearby tyremaking plant Elm's chief environmental contribution is to reduce the amount of tyres going into landfill sites from 67% of UK scrap tyres in 1991 to a projected 40% in 1995, and this does not include the contribution of Elm's two new plants, to be sited in Scotland and the South of England. Neither will be as large as the Wolverhampton operation, which opened last November, but when all three are open Elm will have the capacity to burn 35% of all UK scrap tyres. Wolverhampton employs 76 people; the new sites will create about 45 jobs each and a fourth site is planned in Belgium.

Evans' UK involvement began four years ago when she was headhunted in America by the Department of Trade and Industry which was keen to avail itself of her expert knowledge of tyre recycling. The DTi, explains Evans, has not given the business financial help but "emotional help" and has guided it through the red tape of planning applications.

Wolverhampton was chosen as the location because it is in the heart of a region which produces 90% of the UK's tyres.

Support has come from the manufacturers and distributors of tyres who have made a commitment to the project. ATS and its parent company Michelin, National Tyres, Dunlop, Pirelli and Goodyear have all agreed to pay Elm to take their scrap truck and car tyres at the rate of 60,000 a day.

VERY CLEAN

Evans describes the Wolverhampton power station as "very clean", producing a fraction of the emissions of coal although it is much more expensive. "That's why we get paid for our fuel rather than paying for it," she explains, "But we are as energy efficient as coal, in fact more efficient because you don't have to mine tyres."

The plant uses American technology and emission control measures, such as flue gas desulphurisation scrubbers.The machinery comprises five tyre furnace units, each with its own steam boiler and flue gas treatment systems. Steam is drawn off and fed to a single turbo-generator which converts the steam energy into electricity. Consumption can reach 94,000 tonnes of waste tyres a year creating 27,000 tonnes of by-products include recycling components such as steel wire, zinc oxide, calcine and calcium salts.

The burning of the tyres is thorough, with four stages of combustion to ensure complete incineration of carbonaceous material and the minimisation of pollutants.

The DTi explains: "In the first stage burning solids are rnoved...through the furnace towards the ash outlet. Starved air conditions are carefully maintained where the tyres begin to burn, with the air flow along the furnace gradually increasing until there is an excess of air at the final hearth to ensure complete burnout of the solid residues.

The second and third stages inject more air to ensure complete burnout of all organic materials. The fourth stage moderates the gas temperatures by mixing in cooler gases from the boiler outlet, thereby preventing boiler tube overheating and increasing ash recovery"

QUALITY CONTROL

Elm's application to site the plant in Wolverhampton was accepted by the Planning Authority subject to several conditions that might be described as environmental quality control: restrictions were placed on the hours tyres could be delivered, noise emissions were limited and all tyre storage facilities had to be enclosed, says the DTI, "below the height of existing features on the site". To meet the height and noise restrictions much of the plant has been sunk up to 7m below ground.

For the tyre companies Evans believes the operation will prove a money saver in the long term: "Prices of landfill sites will increase rapidly— ours will only rise with inflation."

0 by Patric Curmane


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