The Next Oil May Not Be Oil: Recovering Materials Instead of Extracting Them
Material Security From Recovered Feedstocks
For decades the world has fought over oil. Russia, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf, the United States — oil has shaped economies, alliances and entire industries. A quieter resource story is now developing alongside it: competition for the materials needed to build the next economy.
Copper for power grids. Lithium and graphite for batteries. Rare earths for motors and electronics. The International Energy Agency estimates the world’s top refining country held an average share of 72 percent of supply across several key energy minerals in 2025, and projects a potential 25 percent copper shortfall by 2035 on today’s project pipeline.
That raises a question worth taking seriously: do we always need to extract something new to get something useful?
The Answer Is Already in an End-of-Life Tire
India recycled around 3 million tonnes of waste tires in FY2024, producing roughly 1.1 million tonnes of tire pyrolysis oil, 0.8 million tonnes of carbon char and 0.3 million tonnes of recovered steel. Tire-derived oil will not replace crude — but some industrial applications can run on recovered and alternative feedstocks, the carbon char can be upgraded into recovered carbon black (rCB), and the steel returns to the material supply chain.
The future may not be about replacing every virgin resource. It is about having more sources, more choices and fewer single points of dependency — material security that matters as much as energy security ever has. That is exactly what Klean’s tire pyrolysis plants deliver: recovered carbon black, pyrolysis oil and steel, recovered locally from waste instead of extracted or imported.
Learn More:
Partner With The KleanTeam for Material Security
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Turning waste into the critical materials manufacturers need — from recovered carbon black to pyrolysis oil and steel — is how Klean Industries turns material security from a risk into a competitive advantage.
Klean’s Key Advantages:
- ✅ 3 recovered carbon black (rCB) plants built in India over the past 2 years.
- ✅ Signed LOI to deliver five more rCB plants in India.
- ✅ Canadian government (DFAITC) recognized Klean for India cleantech / circular-economy trade.
- ✅ KBR added Klean’s proprietary TyreNova tire-pyrolysis technology to its IP portfolio.
Ready to add recovered material security to your supply chain?
Speak with a Material Security Expert at Klean Industries » GO.
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