Mining tyre specialist Kal Tire Chile (Kal Tire) will soon be ready to commence July 2020 operations at its new OTR tyre processing plant in La Negra Industrial Estate in northern Chile’s Atacama Desert, now that phase one construction work is almost complete. The 20,000 sqm thermal conversion facility is expected to have the capacity to process 20 tonnes of scrap mining tyres daily, which will be thermally converted into carbon black, steel, oil and gas, in addition to storage space for about 1,000 of the 57” and 63” tyres.
Kal Tire’s General Manager, Carlos Zuñiga Fuentes, said the facility, when it completes its three construction phases, will operate with six reactors, each 6.2m long and 3.5m in diameter; these are to operate on a 14-16 process and will work on alternate days i.e. one day on, one day off. The reactors will process cut tyres to produce carbon black, oil and steel. The site reportedly has the capacity for 75,000 litres of oil and houses another facility to clean it.
Kal Tire’s Chilean plant also has an extensive fire control system – being located in the Atacama Desert, 45 minutes from the nearest fire station, it can store up to 300,000 litres of water for safety purposes.