Sustainable Development Goals
PROJECT INFORMATION AT A GLANCE:
Project Status:
Development / Pre-FEED
Organizations Involved:
Klean Industries, Life for Tyres, KBR, Several Tyre Recycling Companies
Services / Equipment:
Design & Engineering, Feasibility Studies, Supply Chain Management
“We look forward to building upon our strong relationship with Klean Industries, joining our knowledge and expertise to grow and expand our business operations jointly. In L4T Group, we are firmly committed to accelerating the expansion of advanced manufacturing facilities, increasing installed capacities globally, and bringing added value to our stakeholders, clients, and investors. We believe this is possible only with dedication, hard work, and collaboration – something this signed MOU between Klean Industries and L4T Group represents.”
— Tilen Milicevic, CEO of L4T Group Life For Tyres, 25 April 2024
Japan generated approximately 90 million end-of-life tires in 2023 and achieved a 99.2% effective utilization rate. Yet much of that utilization was achieved by recovering energy through combustion. The opportunity for Klean Industries and Life for Tyres (L4T) is to recover more of the materials those tires contain and return them to manufacturing.
Their planned tire pyrolysis development in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture, combines Klean’s technology and more than 20 years of experience in Japan with L4T’s facility development and operational expertise. Klean has already built reference tire pyrolysis plants in Japan and established relationships with businesses that supply tires and purchase recovered products. These relationships are a central contribution to this collaboration.
The signal this sends is easy to miss: L4T is not a first-timer reaching for a supplier. It already operates the largest upcycling facility of its kind in Europe and is scaling across five regions. Its decision to build Koriyama using Klean’s technology and KBR’s delivery is a deliberate choice by an established operator, proof-by-market-choice that Klean’s technology is the one a serious global operator selects.
Klean brings experience on both sides of the plant, the supply that keeps it running and the customers who give its products value.
Recover more value from a tire stream already serving industry needs
In 2023, Japan had approximately 90 million end-of-life tires, of which 78 million came from tire replacements and 12 million from scrapped vehicles. Paper mills and chemical plants were major thermal recycling outlets. Japan also imported approximately 139,200 tonnes of cut and shredded end-of-life tires that year.
These figures describe an established industrial resource market. Tire-derived energy already has users, infrastructure, and commercial relationships. Advanced pyrolysis offers another route: recovering carbon and oil that can become inputs for new products, extending the useful life of the tire’s constituent materials.
That opportunity requires practical knowledge of Japan’s tire supply chains and industrial customers. Technology, feedstock preparation, and product specifications must work together commercially. Klean’s Japanese experience gives the partnership a foundation built on real projects and relationships in this market.
Combine operating experience with an established Japanese network
The Klean-L4T partnership, announced in April 2024, identifies Koriyama, about 230 kilometers from central Tokyo, as the initial project location. The collaboration brings together both companies’ technologies, operational knowledge and commercial networks.
Klean’s role includes introducing its established Japanese feedstock and offtake partners to L4T. L4T contributes its local presence through L4T Japan G.K., along with a network that includes a major global commodity supplier. This gives the development team complementary relationships across the chain, from tire supply to industrial product markets.
L4T Group also brings its scale to the alliance: it operates the largest upcycling facility of its kind in Europe, with 27,000 tonnes of installed capacity, and is expanding to at least 220,000 tonnes across a development pipeline spanning the US, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia.
That scale makes the choice significant. L4T already operates proven facilities of its own, so its decision to build Koriyama using Klean’s technology and KBR’s delivery is a deliberate choice by an established operator—not an early-stage leap of faith. It signals that the market has not yet fully absorbed it: the largest operators are selecting Klean’s commercially proven, KBR-licensed technology.
For a project developer, that is a meaningful advantage. A plant’s value depends on connecting reliable supply, effective processing, and products customers want to buy. Here, that work can draw on experience and relationships developed over decades.
Manufacture commodities that can be returned to industrial use
The project targets recovered carbon black (rCB) for tire, rubber, and other suitable manufacturing applications, as well as tire-derived oil as an advanced biofuel feedstock for downstream processing. Product quality and the requirements of the intended customers guide how those materials are recovered, processed, and delivered.
This is where process knowledge becomes commercial value. Carbon recovery must deliver a product suited to its application, and oil recovery must connect to a viable downstream pathway. Bringing technology and market relationships into the same development team helps align plant design with the products the business intends to sell.
The intended outcome is a new source of circular manufacturing inputs in Japan, with opportunities to reduce demand for virgin resources, support lower-carbon production, and create skilled regional employment. Koriyama is being developed as the first project in a collaboration intended to support wider deployment.
Make the circular supply chain visible through KleanLoop
The project plans to integrate KleanLoop, Klean’s blockchain-powered supply chain platform, to connect tire recovery with the movement of recovered products into manufacturing.
Its planned scope includes end-to-end supply chain transparency; track-and-trace capabilities for rCB, tire-derived oil, and carbon credits; and integrated data to support regulatory compliance and carbon reporting. This provides a means to measure financial and environmental performance across participating businesses.
For industrial customers, traceability strengthens the circularity proposition. The product can be accompanied by records of its origin and processing history, helping customers assess how recovered materials contribute to their manufacturing and sustainability objectives.
1. Klean brings a Japanese track record spanning more than 20 years.
Reference pyrolysis plants and established feedstock and offtake relationships provide the collaboration with a practical foundation for deployment.
2. An established global operator selected Klean’s technology and KBR’s delivery capabilities.
L4T already operates Europe's largest upcycling facility of its kind. Its decision to build Koriyama with Klean is a deliberate market choice, not an early-stage trial.
3. High tire utilization still leaves a major opportunity for material recovery.
Japan’s 90 million end-of-life tires in 2023 illustrate the scale of the national resource stream. Klean and L4T aim to recover carbon and oil for new industrial uses in that established market.
The L4T partnership sends a signal the market is still catching up to: an established global operator selected Klean’s technology and KBR’s delivery for its next expansion. The same proven route is available to your project.
Engage Klean to bring that knowledge into your development. We can help define the processing configuration, product requirements, and commercial relationships your facility needs, drawing on experience across technology development and industrial supply chains.
Our paid development pathway progresses from a Detailed Equipment Quotation (DEQ) through a Detailed Feasibility Study (DFS) to Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED), applying that know-how to your location, feedstock, and customers.
Build on the Proven Technology L4T and KBR Already Chose >> GO.
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ABOUT THE INFORMATION PRESENTED
This case study presents selected project information. Commercial agreements, process details, and proprietary know-how remain confidential and subject to the parties' permissions. Project-specific disclosures and access are addressed within an agreed engagement.
This project addresses the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by aligning with the goals and associated targets outlined by the WBCSD’s Tire Industry Project (TIP). TIP provides a framework for action that outlines impactful pathways for the tire sector to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To learn more about how Klean’s approach, solutions, and technologies contribute to advancing the SDGs, please review the report “Sustainability Driven: Accelerating Impact with the Tire Sector SDG Roadmap”.
