Sustainable Development Goals
PROJECT INFORMATION AT A GLANCE:
Integrating tire recycling, hydrogen supply and freight
Project Status:
Completed feasibility study and project-development work
Organizations Involved:
Klean Industries, KleanLoop, CEVA Logistics, Nikola Corporation, Enapter, H2 Core Systems, Plug Power, infrastructure debt funders, tire recyclers and haulers — historical development program
Services / Equipment:
Feasibility Studies, Due Diligence, Supply Chain Management, Carbon Management, CSR Education Plan
Our hydrogen powered tire logistics concept connects two commercial needs: recycling facilities require dependable transport, and hydrogen projects require customers for their fuel. The trucks collecting end-of-life tires and distributing recovered products can provide a defined source of hydrogen demand, while the recycling sites can become locations for production and refueling.
The concept emerged from an investor question about emissions beyond the plant boundary. We responded by bringing vehicle technology, renewable hydrogen, logistics partners and infrastructure development into one project framework. Its project case identified potential CO² reductions of approximately 100 metric tonnes per truck annually, or 1,000 metric tonnes for a ten-truck fleet, on the original assessment basis.
“Klean has already brought together like-minded partners to decarbonize their truck fleets…”
— Carey Mendes, President Energy, Nikola
The Challenge
Extend the recycling investment case to the vehicles serving it
During financing discussions for a we facility in the United States, investors including infrastructure debt funds asked how the company would address emissions from incoming tire deliveries and outgoing product shipments. A resource-recovery plant could produce valuable materials while still relying on diesel trucks to move them.
For a tire recycler, those journeys are fundamental to the business. Feedstock has to arrive reliably, and recovered carbon black, oil and steel have to reach customers. Any alternative transport system needs to work with collection territories, payloads, delivery windows and vehicle availability.
Hydrogen introduced an opportunity to connect that transport demand with clean-fuel production. It also required coordinated development: the right trucks need dependable fuel, and a hydrogen installation needs enough recurring demand to justify its capacity. Our work addressed those requirements together.
The Solution
Bring the vehicles, fuel and customers into the same development plan
We formalized part of the development program through a memorandum of understanding with Nikola. The agreement covered encouraging Class 8 vehicle adoption among our logistics partners and feedstock suppliers, developing hydrogen supply and dispensing infrastructure, and evaluating potential hydrogen offtake from projects involving hydroelectric, wind and solar power.
That was a significant commercial connection. We brought access to recycling projects and the companies moving their materials; the collaboration linked those users with vehicle and hydrogen-infrastructure capabilities. Potential fuel demand could therefore be assessed alongside the facilities intended to supply it.
Read the Historical Klean and Nikola Development Announcement >> GO.
Make recycling sites part of the fuel network
The concept combined hydrogen production and refueling at suitable recycling facilities with strategically located corridor stations. Trucks could serve the collection and distribution network while refueling at locations aligned with their routes. California and Oregon formed the focus of the tire-logistics case, within a broader development relationship covering the United States and Canada.
Our separate partnership with H2 Core Systems, using Enapter’s AEM electrolyzers, provided a modular route for renewable-hydrogen production. The integration opportunity also extended to industrial hydrogen use, including oil upgrading, where project requirements supported it. A site with both process demand and fleet demand could assess those uses together when sizing hydrogen equipment.
Renewable electricity powers the electrolyzers in this configuration. Co-location with a tire-recycling plant connects the businesses and infrastructure; the hydrogen’s production pathway and electricity supply determine its carbon intensity.
Explore Klean’s Modular Hydrogen Partnership with H2 Core Systems and Enapter >> GO.
Design around the transport work
The historical vehicle reference was the Nikola Tre fuel-cell electric Class 8 truck, advertised with a range of up to 500 miles and an estimated refueling time as low as 20 minutes under suitable conditions. These specifications informed the opportunity to serve regional freight and tire collection with relatively short refueling stops.
The useful design question was how those capabilities fitted the actual work: distance between fuel stops, usable payload, route terrain, daily utilization and station throughput. Matching the truck to the route also determines hydrogen demand and the production and storage capacity needed to support it.
Nikola subsequently ceased truck manufacturing and sales. Its participation and vehicle specifications form part of this completed development history; implementing the concept requires a vehicle and service package supported by the suppliers selected for the project.
Connect physical logistics with traceability
KleanLoop adds a complementary digital element to our wider approach. Its tire-recycling platform is designed to connect material movements and processing information, improving visibility from collection through recovery and product distribution.
For a hydrogen logistics project, that creates an opportunity to bring transport activity and fuel-use records into the same reporting framework as feedstock and recovered products. The value is a clearer basis for assessing what moved, how it was transported and how the chosen transport system affects the supply chain’s carbon performance.
The Outcome
A completed development framework with a quantified emissions case
The work brought together a transport application, potential hydrogen users, a vehicle collaboration and a modular production route. It gave we a way to discuss collection and distribution as part of the wider recycling investment, with hydrogen demand linked to the movement of real materials.
Our original project case set out the following estimated annual CO² reductions:
These are project-case estimates. The achieved reduction for a particular fleet depends on the diesel duty displaced, vehicle utilization and the carbon intensity of hydrogen production and delivery. Fuel-cell operation eliminates combustion-related tailpipe CO², NOx and exhaust particulate emissions, offering a local air-quality benefit along collection routes and around industrial sites.
An existing logistics need can help create a hydrogen market
The central commercial insight is that a recycling business already brings together sites, material flows, truck movements and recurring transport expenditure. Coordinating these activities can create identifiable fuel demand around which a hydrogen project can be developed.
That demand matters to the investment case. It helps determine how much hydrogen a site needs, how frequently vehicles return, what station capacity is justified and which users could enter supply arrangements. A plant’s own process requirements may provide an additional use for the same hydrogen infrastructure.
Our contribution was to connect these decisions and the organizations able to act on them. The same approach can be assessed for other industrial freight networks where repeat routes and concentrated fuel demand support a practical production and refueling model.
1. The project started with an investor’s question and led to concrete development work. We linked plant financing discussions with a vehicle MOU, hydrogen-production partnerships and logistics planning.
2. The fuel customer can be part of the recycling network. Tire collection and product distribution provide identifiable transport demand that can inform hydrogen capacity and supply arrangements.
3. The concept has a quantified environmental case. Our original assessment used approximately 100 tonnes of annual CO² reduction per truck and 1,000 tonnes for ten trucks, with delivery assessed against the actual fleet and hydrogen supply.
These are selected achievements and lessons. Further technical and commercial insights are available through an engagement with Klean.
WHAT DO THESE LESSONS MEAN FOR YOUR PROJECT?
If you operate a recycling facility, manage a collection fleet or develop industrial hydrogen infrastructure, we can assess how your material movements, energy resources and fuel demand fit together. The aim is to establish a commercially useful configuration supported by the site, routes and customers it will serve.
For new equipment developments, a paid Detailed Equipment Quotation (DEQ) establishes the preliminary configuration and investment basis. A Detailed Feasibility Study (DFS) develops the technical and commercial case, followed by Front-End Engineering Design (FEED). Fleet, supply-chain and investor advisory assignments can be scoped to the specific business need.
Discuss Your Hydrogen and Circular Logistics Project with Klean >> GO.
Https://vimeo.com/1054612589
ABOUT THE INFORMATION PRESENTED
This case describes completed feasibility and project-development work. Named organizations, the partner statement and vehicle specifications relate to the historical program; emissions figures retain our original project-case basis. Further technical, commercial and operating information is addressed within an agreed engagement and appropriate confidentiality arrangements.
Please review the report “Sustainability Driven: Accelerating Impact with the Tire Sector SDG Roadmap”.
