Australian tire recycler signs $50 million deal to build plants in South Africa.

Petrotahlil :Tire recycler Green Distillation Technologies has signed an agreement with Volco Power Pty. Ltd. to build up to five tire recycling plants in South Africa.

The deal is worth up to $50 million, according to a Green Distillation press release. Volco will build the plants in five of South Africa's nine provinces based on availability of scrap tires.

Synchrona, Volco's predecessor company, specialized in converting waste tires and municipal solid waste into electricity and other forms of energy in more than 15 African countries, according to Green Distillation.

"However, due to the problems of obtaining power purchase agreements with government, Volco has now decided to concentrate on providing energy to private industrial clients," the Australian company said.

South Africa is a good market for tire recycling, said Wilson Machekayanga, Volco business development manager. The country generates more than 300,000 metric tons of scrap tires annually, of which less than 20 percent are recycled each year, according to Machekayanga. There are some 60 million scrap tires stockpiled within the country, he said.

Green Distillation's proprietary technology converts end-of-life tires into oil, carbon and steel, and its emissions controls meet the stringent anti-pollution standards of the New South Wales government, according to the company.

Green Distillation operates a processing plant in Warren and is raising capital for another at Toowoomba in southern Queensland, the company said. Currently, it is conducting the first industrial trials of a new thermoelectric device that converts heat to electric power.

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