Tire-Derived Fuel

Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment granted Lafarge Canada approval to burn scrap tires and other municipal waste at its cement manufacturing plant in Bath, Ontario. Strict conditions form part of two certificates of approval granted under the Environmental Protection Act, allowing Lafarge to replace about 30 per cent of the fuel it currently uses through a gradual phasing-in of used tires and other municipal waste.

In a pilot project, Lafarge will be allowed to burn these wastes under strictly controlled conditions to confirm that the process can safely meet Ontario’s stringent air emission standards. The company will burn tires in gradually increasing amounts across three demonstration stages over a period of two years, and may proceed to the next stage only if emissions meet the ministry’s standards.

Conditions Set Out In The Air Certificate Of Approval

Rigorous third-party oversight is a core condition. The demonstration phase will include an independent third-party technical review of the facility’s performance testing on behalf of a community liaison committee, and Lafarge’s emissions results will also be reviewed by the ministry.

The process must also remain open and transparent. The company is required to continuously monitor emissions and has agreed to display its continuous monitoring in a public place for the community liaison committee to review.

Finally, the facility must meet strict air emission limits based on Ontario’s rigorous A7 air guideline, standards more stringent than either European Union or U.S. Environmental Protection Agency limits. Lafarge must also achieve even lower limits for lead and cadmium.

Waste Sourcing And The Broader Tire-To-Energy Question

Under its waste certificate of approval, Lafarge has committed to ensuring the wastes received at the site are either not recyclable due to their properties or surplus to the capacity of Ontario recycling markets, and must provide the ministry with an annual detailed assessment of its efforts to restrict the receipt and use of potentially recyclable material.

Though no facility in Ontario currently used tires as an alternative fuel at the time, Environment Minister Laurel Broten moved to propose a temporary two-year halt on the burning of tires, extendable to three years if results are incomplete. The halt was intended to give ministry scientists time to confirm the environmental performance of facilities that convert tires to energy.

Alternative Fuels And Tire Pyrolysis

Alternative fuels, including tires, have been used for many years in safe, proven processes to make cement in Quebec, Sweden, Germany, and California. Yet burning tires for cement kiln fuel leaves their valuable material streams — recovered carbon black, oil, and steel — unclaimed, whereas pyrolysis recovers them as saleable products while still diverting tires from landfill.

The proposed suspension on the burning of used tires was posted on the Environmental Registry for a 45-day public comment period.

Learn More:

• Tire recycling and pyrolysis
• Recovered carbon black (rCB) solutions
• Solid waste recycling and energy recovery
• Circular oil recovery and pyrolysis oil upgrading

Recover Full Value From Scrap Tires Instead Of Burning Them

Burning tires as cement-kiln fuel destroys the very materials that hold the most value. Recovered carbon black, pyrolysis oil, and steel can all be extracted and sold instead of being incinerated into atmospheric emissions.

Klean Industries converts end-of-life tires through advanced pyrolysis, recovering these saleable products while still diverting scrap tires from landfill — a cleaner route that captures far more economic value than using tires as kiln fuel.

Ready to turn scrap tires into saleable products?

Contact Klean Industries to convert scrap tires into recovered carbon black and oil » GO.