Rome-based Green Carbon Inc, has battled hard to overcome a 12-month shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
About the time operations were getting close to normal again, Fred Taylor, the company’s visionary founder, died after a battle with a blood disorder. But, true to the competitive drive of its founder, the company, which is a subsidiary of OTR Wheel Engineering, is once again making strides to overcome unforeseen challenges.
Initially founded in 2008, the company started active production in 2011. Taylor thought there had to be a way to break down recycled tires and charged Phil Wilson with making it happen. The automotive and heavy machinery industries have struggled for decades with what to do with scrap tires, particularly those mammoth tires used in agricultural and mining sectors.
Wilson and a crew of engineers developed a method for breaking down tires into oils, carbon black, and steel. Engineers developed pyrolysis, a process that uses a thermal vacuum technique to break down tires. The thermal vacuum technique, which allows operation at lower temperatures and preserves the structure of the carbon black, is a key to the process. It allows Green Carbon to reduce a 63-inch tire to more than 500 gallons of oil, 3,500 pounds of carbon black, and close to 1,500 pounds of steel.
Reactors developed by the company can dismantle upwards of 13,000 pounds of tires simultaneously, which takes roughly 16 hours to complete. That means the giant reactor in North Rome handles a load every other day. That translates to a monthly capacity of close to 36,000 gallons of oil-blend stock, 36 tons of steel, and more than 100 tons of carbon black. On top of that, the thermal vacuum process creates and captures more gas than it takes to stoke the huge incineration chambers.
Wilson said the engineering crew continued to improve the processes over the past decade and is now developing a carbon black burner to generate electricity and has a Caterpillar natural gas generator set up to run on the gas produced by the GCI processes to generate electricity.
Reactors developed by the company can dismantle upwards of 13,000 pounds of tires simultaneously, which takes roughly 16 hours to complete. That means the giant reactor in North Rome handles a load every other day. That translates to a monthly capacity of close to 36,000 gallons of oil-blend stock, 36 tons of steel, and more than 100 tons of carbon black. On top of that, the thermal vacuum process creates and captures more gas than it takes to stoke the huge incineration chambers.
Wilson said the engineering crew continued to improve the processes over the past decade and is now developing a carbon black burner to generate electricity and has a Caterpillar natural gas generator set up to run on the gas produced by the GCI processes to generate electricity.
The reclaimed gas’s BTU rating is between natural gas and propane. “It burns hotter than natural gas but not as hot as propane,” Wilson said. “It’s the most environmentally friendly system in the world.”
Over the past 11 years, Wilson estimates that Green Carbon has recycled a couple of million tires. The company is paid a tipping fee to take in tires. The company gets $1.50 for car tires, but the larger tires are charged by the pound.
Green Carbon is also developing a burner that will heat a steam generator, and that steam will operate a turbine to generate electricity. The BTU rating for the reclaimed carbon black is higher than coal.
Oils generated from the pyrolysis are sold to refineries that blend the oil with crude oil to make their own blended fuels.
Recycled steel is sold primarily to scrap dealers.
Over the past 11 years, Wilson estimates that Green Carbon has recycled a couple of million tires. The company is paid a tipping fee to take in tires. The company gets $1.50 for car tires, but the larger tires are charged by the pound.
Green Carbon is also developing a burner that will heat a steam generator, and that steam will operate a turbine to generate electricity. The BTU rating for the reclaimed carbon black is higher than coal.
Oils generated from the pyrolysis are sold to refineries that blend the oil with crude oil to make their own blended fuels.
Recycled steel is sold primarily to scrap dealers.
Over the last decade, Green Carbon has patented its process in 16 nations from the US and Canada to Australia throughout Europe and South Africa. The patents were established far and wide to make sure that no one could steal the company’s technology.
In addition to the Rome plant, production facilities are also located in Tennessee and Alberta, Canada.
Wilson believes the sky remains the limit for the technology. “Everyone who comes here and sees the process is very impressed,” Wilson said.
