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A used tyre recycling line should be specified by its final product: shreds, partially de-steeled chips, rubber granules or fine powder. Each requires a different combination of machines and checks. An industrial tyre shredder can prepare material without producing saleable rubber granulate. Secure feedstock and an output specification before comparing motor power or catalogue tonnage.
Which configuration matches your intended output?
| Target product | Operations to investigate | Contractual acceptance criteria |
|---|---|---|
| Shreds for another processor | Reception, preparation of oversized tyres where needed, primary shredding and size control | Accepted dimensions, permitted steel and requirements of the next process. |
| Rubber chips | Shredding, rasping/steel liberation, magnetic separation and screening | Size distribution and residual steel; the name chips is not a purity specification. |
| Granules for material applications | Previous stages plus granulation, steel/textile separation and classification | Size range, residual fibre and steel, dust, moisture and buyer-required analyses. |
| Fine powder | Prepared granulate plus suitable fine grinding, separation and classification | Yield at the specified size, extra processing cost and a confirmed customer. |
ELDAN describes modular configurations for these product families. They illustrate process choices, not performance guarantees for other machines or another tyre mix. Start with the required fraction and avoid purchasing a full fine-granulation line when the next processor only needs prepared shreds.
ELDAN: mechanical tyre recycling line configurations
Where do magnets and textile separation belong?
- Receive, weigh and sort tyres
- Prepare unusual sizes and primary-shred
- Rasp and progressively liberate steel
- Magnetically separate liberated steel
- Granulate and remove fibres/dust by air separation
- Screen, return oversize and inspect output
Primary shredding prepares feed for the next machines. Rasping and further reduction release wire trapped in rubber. Magnets remove liberated ferrous steel; they do not remove textile fibres. Further magnetic stages may be needed after reduction because one pass does not establish that fine wire has been removed from the final product.
Air separation and classification remove fibres and light fractions. Settings must preserve rubber recovery: stronger suction may carry useful rubber away with fibres. Screens divide sizes, and oversize may return for further grinding. Specify final output after recirculation rather than the tonnes passing an intermediate conveyor.
ELDAN: different roles of magnets, aspirators and classifiers
Can one line accept passenger, truck and off-road tyres?
Provide proportions by tyre family, maximum dimensions, piece weight, rims and other unwanted material. An oversized off-road tyre may need pre-cutting. Debeading is not universal: its necessity depends on the equipment and feedstock. Obtain written confirmation of which tyres enter whole, which need preparation and the throughput warranted for your mix.
How much capacity do you actually need?
A fictional example: 4,000 incoming tonnes/year, 220 days, eight hours/day and 80% availability provide 1,408 running hours. Required capacity is 4,000 ÷ 1,408 = 2.84 incoming t/h while running. At an assumed 65% compliant-granulate yield, output would be 2,600 t/year or 1.85 t/h in operation. The 65% is a teaching assumption, not an industry average or an MSR yield promise. Replace it with representative trial data.
Which outlets need validation before investment?
For moulded products or another material application, obtain the buyer's written limits for size, steel/fibre residues, moisture, packaging, chemical analyses and incorporation testing. A fine-powder buyer may require different properties from a granulate buyer. A catalogue purity figure is useful only if the actual lot also meets the requirements of its intended use.
Do not base an EU business plan solely on granular infill for artificial sports surfaces. ECHA states that the ban on placing synthetic-polymer-microparticle granular infill on the market applies from 17 October 2031. This addresses that use, not all tyre recycling. Validate the current requirements and outlook of every planned application before assuming its sales.
ECHA: sports-surface infill and the 17 October 2031 deadline
What cost and trial results should suppliers quote?
Compare the installed cost of oversized-tyre preparation, conveyors, shredders/granulators, magnets, extraction/filtration, screens, controls, installation, utilities and initial spares. Include labour, whole-line electricity, knives, screens, maintenance, collection and disposal of fractions without buyers. A cheap shredder alone says little about cost per tonne of accepted granulate.
Request a continuous trial using your mix, a fixed final size, all fractions weighed and stoppages recorded. Agree how residual steel and fibres are measured and have the intended customer approve a sample. Stress-test the economics against lower incoming volume, lower rubber prices and longer knife-change downtime.
Prepare the project information before requesting line quotations
How does mechanical recycling differ from thermolysis?
Mechanical treatment mainly separates rubber, steel and textiles. Thermolysis/pyrolysis transforms the feed and requires qualification of oil, gas and carbonaceous material. Shredding can prepare a thermal-process feed, but full granulation is not automatically required: follow the reactor's size and permitted-steel specification. MSR is developing a tyre thermolysis project; performance must be validated for that project.
Tyre pyrolysis: process, mass balance and product qualification
MSR's tyre thermolysis development project — French project page
Send MSR the committed annual supply, tyre mix and dimensions, output specification, identified buyers and site layout. These distinguish a preparation line from a finished-granulate line and define what acceptance trials need to demonstrate.
Define my tyre treatment line with MSR