RDH Tire & Retread Co., located in Cleveland, and Missouri-based Hitec LLC created a joint venture in April 2008 called RDH Environmental.
RDH Tire retreads off the road (OTR) tires — a type of large tire used in heavy machinery and by the military. But those tires typically last only through two retreads before they are scrapped.
Hitec created a startup facility on the RDH Tire property in Cleveland to process those scrap tires into carbon, steel, fuel oil and gas — most of which it plans to sell.
Bradley Ragan, vice president and CEO of RDH Tire, said this recycling process is an extension of the retreading it already does.
“There’s a lot of tires that come to us that … can’t be retreaded any more, so then they are scrapped,” Ragan said. “Currently, we haul these tires back to our customers, who then have to pay to get rid of them.”
Right now, the typical disposal method for OTR tires is to bury them onsite or in a landfill.
“We’re very excited about this,” Ragan said. “Burying these in ground needs to become a thing of the past.”
Hitec CEO Harvey Buhr said Thursday he is glad to be associated with RDH Tire.
“We think that together, we have the best choice of locations and sites — and people to work with,” Buhr said. “We’re happy to be operating here in Rowan County.”
During a tour Thursday morning, Buhr explained to local and state officials and other interested people how the pyrolysis process is used to recycle tires.
“My thought in designing this system was using the least amount of energy to get the most out of it,” Buhr said.
Source: salisburypost.com
By Karissa Minn