Excerpt: In June, 2008 in the case of National Resources Defense Council v. EPA, the D.C. U.S. Court of Appeals vacated two EPA rules – the boiler Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards and the CISWI (Commercial Industrial Solid Waste Incinerators) definitions rule. Now at issue are the questions of how TDFs will be defined for the purposes of regulations under Sections 112 and 129 of the Clean Air Act.
Michael Blumenthal, vice president of the Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA), who covers scrap tire issues nationwide, has been closely tracking the EPA decision as it affects TDFs. “There is basically only one of two ways EPA can go. One, they can rule that scrap tires for the purposes of the Clean Air Act are not considered solid waste if they meet a series of criteria under which each potential fuel would have to meet in order to be regulated under Section 112 (the control program for hazardous air pollutants), which would keep the status quo. The other way they could rule would be to say that all these fuels would have to be regulated under Section 129, the rules for solid waste combustion.”… Blumenthal voiced an industry-wide consensus that plants using TDF do not want to be regulated under Section 129 because very stringent air emission standards are likely. The choice would be to continue to use TDFs as solid waste and comply with 129, or not use the solid waste fuels and remain under 112. In the latter case, plants would stop using all solid waste fuels, which goes beyond tires. Under 129, plants would have to do more testing – testing is expensive and because more individual materials will require testing, emission limits may be lowered. It becomes a very onerous, expensive, time-consuming process, plus the plant is considered a hazardous waste operation. “No pulp and paper mill in its right mind would ever want to be classified as a hazardous waste incinerator. It would end the use of TDF, period,” Blumenthal predicted. Tyrone Wilson, Ph.D., director of Regulatory Affairs for the Portland Cement Association (PCA) commented on the future of TDF, “We’ve given the Clean Air Act a lot of thought in terms of how EPA should regulate tires under Section 112 and its potential impact on the use of scrap tires as an alternative fuel source in the manufacture of cement. Using tires as an alternative fuel source is environmentally beneficial with regard to the issue of CO2. For example, we know that pound-for-pound tires have more fuel value than coal. This is a widely recognized fact which dovetails nicely with the U.S. Department of Energy’s estimation that TDF combustion produces less CO2 per unit of energy than coal.”
Source: http://www.americanrecycler.com/0209/the.shtml
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Excerpt: Tire-derived fuel is still being used even though natural gas, coal and oil have all come down in price,” he said. There are several reasons why demand hasn’t gone down for TDF, according to Blumenthal. For one thing, companies that use TDF have invested in new systems to handle the product; for another, they have a long-term plan to diversify their sources of energy. “People believe petroleum will go up again,” he said. “Tires, on the other hand, are stable and cost-competitive, and people are used to using them now.”… However, as Blumenthal said, “There are so many variables it isn’t even funny.” Added to that, some states are starting to plunder their scrap tire funds and other dedicated monies for more general use, he said. “We aren’t being singled out in any way,” he said. “Everybody is taking a hit.”
Source: http://www.globaltirenews.com/headlines2.html?cat=1&id=1235659385&q=Scrap+recyclers+regroup
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Excerpt: Florida Tire Recycling, Inc. (FTR), a leading environmental solutions provider to the tire industry, announced today the commercialization of the first Cry-Ambient Processing System to recycle old tires. This new processing system enables manufacturers to jump the economic hurdle to going green. With FTR, companies are able to incorporate recycled, sustainable materials into the manufacturing of green products at a price that is affordable and with the quality they expect… A key advantage of employing a cry-ambient system to recycle old tires is the flexibility to alter the rubber particle's physical characteristics and impart the desired surface morphology required by the application. The result is the ability to produce desired particle sizes and ranges that can be customized to a specific application. This technique is crucial when creating raw materials since different applications require different size and quality of recycled rubber.
Source: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Florida-Tire-Recycling-Inc-977499.html
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