Sustainable Development Goals
PROJECT INFORMATION AT A GLANCE:
Connecting recovered tire steel with concrete reinforcement markets
Project Status:
Completed feasibility study and project-development work
Organizations Involved:
Klean Industries, Sika Corporation / Sika USA, Liberty Tire Recycling, Lafarge/Holcim, Cemex and XFibres
Services / Equipment:
Feasibility Studies, Due Diligence, Carbon Management
A tire’s steel cord is an engineered reinforcement material before it ever reaches a recycling plant. Our work on recycled tire steel fibers examines how to carry that value into concrete—creating a product outlet that rewards the steel’s performance as well as its metal content.
The opportunity connects two established industries. Tire recyclers recover high-tensile wire; concrete producers purchase fibers to improve crack control, toughness and behavior after cracking. Preparing recovered cord for that application can preserve useful engineering already embodied in the material and avoid the remelting and manufacture associated with making a new fiber from scrap steel.
Our original assessment identified potential embodied-carbon reductions of up to 60% against the conventional reinforcement comparator, together with a substantial U.S. Resource base. Its completed feasibility and project-development work addressed how recovery, product preparation and construction demand could fit together.
The Challenge
Capture the value beyond the scrap-metal price
Concrete reinforcement offers recyclers a route to sell the steel’s geometry, strength and performance alongside its metal content.
Our original U.S. Assessment used a reference market of more than 300 million end-of-life tires annually, approximately 4.4 million tons of tire material, and a 15–20% steel fraction. It identified more than 600,000 tons of potentially recoverable steel per year on that basis. This indicated a significant resource for assessing regional fiber production.
The challenge was to convert that resource into a dependable construction input. Concrete producers need consistent fibers, predictable batching and evidence that the finished mix meets the intended application. The commercial opportunity therefore depends on both material recovery and the requirements of the customer specifying the reinforcement.
The Solution
Develop the steel outlet alongside the recycling process
Our approach connects pyrolysis and mechanical separation with the downstream preparation needed for a concrete fiber product. Its project record describes the recovery of clean steel wire with low contamination, followed by treatment and processing for reinforcement applications.
Cleaning, separation and control of fiber dimensions help convert recovered wire into a usable additive. The chosen process must also preserve the properties needed in the finished product. This links decisions at the recycling plant—feedstock, recovery conditions and material handling—with the fiber specification and concrete mix in which it will be used.
Use construction-market experience to guide product development
Our project record identifies collaboration with XFibres and Sika USA in developing the opportunity, alongside the tire-recycling and construction-material organizations listed above. Their relevance is practical: recovered steel needs an application, a specification and a route to the customer.
European experience provides a tangible precedent. XFibres has a European Technical Assessment for specified concrete fibers recovered from end-of-life tires. This demonstrates an established route for assessing this product category. A U.S. Application is developed against its own material requirements, engineering design and acceptance process.
Sell the reinforcement function
Steel fibers distributed through concrete bridge cracks and help the material continue carrying load after cracking. The commercial benefits can include greater toughness, impact resistance and control of crack opening in applications such as industrial floors, pavements, precast products, tunnel linings and shotcrete.
The selected fiber, dosage and mix determine the result. Where the engineered design allows, fiber reinforcement can also simplify placement by reducing the amount of conventional reinforcement that must be positioned and secured. This makes material performance, installation requirements and total application cost part of the same purchasing decision.
The Outcome
A completed development case for a more valuable steel product
Our work brought tire-steel recovery and concrete reinforcement into one commercial assessment. Its project record draws on internal research, pilot testing, field applications and European experience, reporting opportunities for improved flexural toughness, post-crack performance, durability and impact resistance. These findings support application-specific development of the recovered material.
Independent U.S. Research adds support for the product category. In a University of California Pavement Research Center study prepared for Caltrans, a tire-derived steel fiber was among the stronger steel-fiber performers for residual strength and toughness at the tested dosages. The researchers recommended further evaluation for pavement use. This is supporting research for the application, separate from our project results.
A quantified carbon opportunity tied to the scale of adoption
Our original assessment set out two environmental indicators:
These figures describe the assessed opportunity. The result for a specific supply chain depends on the displaced reinforcement, fiber dosage, recovery and finishing processes, transport and the comparison boundary. Recovering steel for direct use as fibers can avoid remelting; locating preparation near recycling and construction customers can also reduce transport demand.
The commercial lesson is that a tire-recycling project can develop its steel outlet as deliberately as its oil and carbon outlets. Matching recovered wire to an engineered application creates a route to product differentiation, regional supply relationships and more value from the same incoming tires.
1. The tire already contains an engineered reinforcement material. Preparing its steel cord for concrete creates an opportunity to retain functional value and access a market beyond bulk scrap sales.
2. Our work connects recovery with a construction customer. The completed feasibility and development case brings together processing, material performance, industry participants and the requirements of concrete applications.
3. The opportunity has a quantified environmental case. Our original estimates include up to 60% lower embodied carbon and a 300,000-ton annual CO²-reduction scenario at 10% resource adoption, subject to the assessment basis.
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 tire-recycling plant, produce concrete or develop reinforcement products, we can assess how recovered steel supply, processing requirements and customer specifications could support a commercial fiber outlet. The objective is to establish a product and supply model that earns its place in the customer’s concrete mix.
Materials, supply-chain and market-development assignments can be scoped as paid feasibility or due-diligence work. For new processing equipment, the pathway begins with a paid Detailed Equipment Quotation (DEQ), progresses through a Detailed Feasibility Study (DFS) and then Front-End Engineering Design (FEED).
Discuss Your Tire Steel Recovery and Concrete Reinforcement Project with Klean >> GO.
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ABOUT THE INFORMATION PRESENTED
This case combines our completed project record with relevant product assessments and published research. Market and emissions figures retain the original assessment basis. Product performance and commercial deployment are developed for the selected material, process, application and customer requirements.
Please review the report “Sustainability Driven: Accelerating Impact with the Tire Sector SDG Roadmap”.
