News: Weibold Academy

By passing the Green Deal in 2019, the European Union (EU) set the course for more sustainable investments, for example in areas like renewable energy, biodiversity, or circular economy. The goal is to reach a climate-neutral economy in the EU by 2050, with a reduction goal of 55% by in 2030. To achieve these climate goals, the Green Deal includes an investment plan of 1 trillion euros over the next 10 years. Despite this huge investment, the EU depends also on the support of the private sector to achieve the Paris climate agreement.

Funds, family offices, banks, and large industrial companies are setting up investment budgets of considerable magnitude (with tens or hundreds of millions of euros in fresh capital) for ELT pyrolysis projects to grow up to an industrial scale. This not only opens enormous opportunities for the ELT pyrolysis industry but also poses challenges for a technology going disruptive. In order to meet the expectations of all stakeholders, a multi-layered approach is necessary and the consideration of a multitude of aspects from different perspectives must be considered.

A critical Article by Kotzé and Adelman (2022) contends that sustainable development, deeply entrenched in environmental law, policymaking, and governance, perpetuates environmentally harmful neoliberal economic growth, exploiting and deteriorating fragile ecosystems. Despite its well-intentioned origins, sustainable development often fosters exploitative economic activities, exacerbating systemic inequalities and injustices while failing to adequately safeguard biodiversity in the Anthropocene era.

Sometimes it makes sense to periodically sift through your personal library (even though that's primarily done electronically these days). When you browse around, some things come to light that are worth not forgetting, such as a conference paper that was published exactly 30 years ago in August 1993. “A multiple-product approach to the processing of used tires” (Michal A. Serio, et al., 1993) is a remarkably accurate vision of chemical recycling of end-of-life tires (ELTs), as it is experiencing a boom in the last few years. The authors presented their well-founded proposals for sustainable recycling of ELTs through pyrolysis at a conference of the American Chemical Society (ACS Division of Fuel Chemistry) in the USA. About 20 years later, namely in 2011, the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) within the framework of the Basel Convention (191 signatory states) approved the chemical recycling of ELTs by pyrolysis as Environmental Sound Management (ESM). This classification was subsequently also included in the European regulations. In this exposé of the remarkably visionary work, the original text is quoted and only occasionally an outdated term is replaced by the one used today. Replacements and comments are in Italic. This paper by Michal A. Serio and colleagues could just as well have been written today.

Pyrolysis, an advanced chemical recycling route for End-of-Life Tires (ELT), is experiencing a boom in the last few years. As seen objectively, there is no one best design and/or process mode. Different options can be considered depending on the local circumstances and/or targeted product yields and qualities. While only a small portion of global ELT arisings (31 million tons per year) are currently finding their way to thermochemical decomposition, recent developments are showing strong signs of promising opportunities.

Broad renewable emissions and energy targets set by governments and supra-government organisations are finding their way into directives that will eventually become laws or regulations. These laws will have a massive impact on the business models and commercial aspects of a multitude of industry sectors. Staying abreast of how the maze of impending regulations in different global regions will affect business strategies has become a major task for executives. In this series of articles, we aim to alert leaders in our industry at a high level to the developments that will likely warrant further study and ultimately affect their decisions.

The 2009/28/EC directive, officially known as the "Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources," is a significant European Union directive adopted on April 23, 2009. It has the primary goal of fostering the utilization of renewable energy sources, reducing greenhouse gas emissions within the European Union, and decreasing reliance on energy imports. Each member state is required to adhere to specific targets for the share of renewable energy in their overall energy consumption. In 2018, the directive was revised and updated through the Renewable Energy Directive 2018 (2018/2001). It solidified the binding national targets for renewable energy in gross final energy consumption and established a unified framework for promoting energy from renewable sources. This framework includes the implementation of support schemes, guarantees of origin, and streamlined administrative procedures.

IMPEL is an international non-profit association comprising environmental authorities from EU Member States, acceding and candidate countries, EEA and EFTA countries, and potential European Community members. The association is registered in Belgium and its legal seat is in Brussels, Belgium. IMPEL was set up in 1992 as an informal Network of European regulators and authorities concerned with the implementation and enforcement of environmental law. The Network’s objective is to create the necessary impetus in the European Community to make progress on ensuring a more effective application of environmental legislation. Its aim is to promote professional collaboration, information exchange, and best practices among environmental regulators, with the goal of ensuring the effective implementation and enforcement of European environmental law.

Just in February 2023, the Joint Research Council (JRC) of the European Commission [1] published their study results on the environmental and economic factors of chemical recycling (pyrolysis) and energy recovery of end-of-life tires (ELT). The result of this study in advance: chemical recycling via ELT pyrolysis - including mechanical recycling for feedstock processing - is a more sustainable option for managing ELTs than energy recovery via incineration. Revisiting a decades-old knowledge Already in 2010, a much-cited Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) found pyrolysis to be the most eco-effective ELT treatment technology, followed by dynamic devulcanization and ambient grinding. [2] These results were confirmed in 2015 by a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study showing that substituting primary resources with pyrolysis products from ELTs provides significant environmental savings. [3]