US-based Bolder Industries, a pioneer of advanced sustainable chemical manufacturing sourced from end-of-life tyres, has purchased the former Pyrolyx facility in Terre Haute, Indiana. The 66,000-sq-ft location, which ceased operations in March 2020, will be retrofitted with Bolder Industries’ proprietary solution, utilising the currently permitted facility to increase Bolder’s manufacturing capacity within the first year of operations. The initial phase is expected to be completed in early 2023 and is estimated to divert approximately 3 million tyres from landfill or burning.
Bolder’s charter products’ (BolderBlack and BolderOil) production level will see an overall increase of nearly three times their capacity.
Bolder Industries has a successful track record of retrofitting existing manufacturing operations with its proprietary extraction technology, as it did when it purchased a facility in Maryville, Missouri, in 2014. This location has continued production 24 hours a day since it began full commercial operations in February of 2019. Bolder currently supplies the largest brands in the world with sustainable raw materials in the petrochemical, tire, manufactured rubber goods, plastics and auto spaces.
Bolder Industries plans to invest approximately US$40 million into the first phase of the project to help satisfy market demand. The company will add more than 40 new employees to operate the facility. The Terre Haute facility will remain consistent with Bolder’s commitment to quality standards of its manufacturing process, pursuing an ISO:9001:2015 certification once it begins operations.
Upon completing the integration of the company’s proprietary material science process, the Terre Haute facility will repurpose the chemicals in end-of-life tyres to create BolderBlack and BolderOil for rubber, plastic, and petrochemicals supply chains and their new product outputs.
In this recovery process, 98% of the tyre’s materials are utilised and 75% of the solids and liquids make their way back into new tyres, manufactured rubber goods, and plastics. Bolder Industries’ raw materials have an average of 85% savings in greenhouse gas emissions, water usage, and power usage compared to traditional manufacturing. This savings empowers companies that purchase the raw materials to improve the sustainability of their products instantly.
The recently announced partnership with Liberty Tire Recycling will play an integral role in supplying end-of-life tyres as feedstock to this facility for its enhanced capacity.