Michelin awards McDermott FEED contract for waste tire recycling project

Houston, Texas – US engineering firm McDermott International has been awarded a new front-end engineering design (FEED) contract from the Michelin Group for the construction of a waste tire processing plant in Chile.

The award follows a similar FEED announcement in April, which is focusing on the production of regenerated styrene to make synthetic rubber for tires.    

The new contract involves the Scandinavian Enviro Systems' licensed pyrolysis process, which recovers carbon black, oil, steel and gas from end-of-life tires, McDermott announced 4 Aug.

Michelin dislcosed in February that it was launching the construction on its first tire recycling plant in collaboration with Enviro in Chile’s Antofagasta region.

The $30 million (€25 million) plant will be able to recycle 30 kilotonnes of earthmover tires a year, representing nearly 60% of such tires scrapped in the country every year.

The FEED project will be executed from McDermott's office in Brno, Czech Republic. 

The company said it will begin work on the project immediately and expects it be completed in first quarter 2022. 

Michelin aims to start production at the plant in Chile in 2023.

"The Michelin Group is pioneering advancements in waste recycling technology and has once again selected McDermott to help advance the next generation of sustainable tires," said Samik Mukherjee, McDermott executive VP and chief operating officer. 

"This latest contract award strengthens our shared vision for a more sustainable future and solidifies our long-standing relationship," he said.