Be'ah, the solid waste management utility of Oman, has signed up Al Affia Global Industries to process some of the huge stockpiles of scrap tyres amassed at key dumpsites around the sultanate, into commercially valuable byproducts, said a report.

The initiative marks a significant milestone in Be’ah’s efforts to find a ‘green solution’ to the growing stockpiles of scrap automotive tyres accumulating at designated locations such as Barka and Sur, reported Oman Observer.

As per the deal, Al Affia Global Industries, a small and medium enterprise (SME) owned by Omani siblings Salem and Assad Al Araimi, will turn these huge mountains of so-called ‘end-of-life’ tyres piled up at designated locations in Barka and Sur, into valuable byproducts.  

The scrap automotive tyres will be first stripped of their steel wires for further recycling into an assortment of hardware merchandise, while the waste rubber recovered from the process is proposed to be converted into ‘rubber crumbs’ and exported as raw material to big markets like India for fuel production or use in a range of industrial applications.

The technology behind Al Affia Global’s cost-effective tyre recycling process is the brainchild of Muscat-based engineering specialist P T Sivarajan.

"It struck me that, with a bit of innovation, I could design an affordable version of a debeading machine typically used in stripping out steel wires from waste tyres," remarked Sivarajan.
 
"Utilising my modest savings, I fashioned an Omani version of a debeading machine at one-fourth of the cost of a European equivalent," he added.

"The equipment has since been licensed by the relevant authorities for use in Oman and will be employed by Al Affia Global in the preliminary processing of waste tyres at Barka and Sur," said Sivarajan.

Al Affia Global, he stated, plans to process an estimated 30,000 tonnes of waste tyres annually at facilities in Barka and Sur tyre dumpsites.

These plants are expected to yield around 4,000 tonnes of high-strength steel wire, which can be suitably recycled for use in the manufacture of springs and fences.

The tyre’s rubber component will be recovered via a novel cryogenic procedure that yields rubber in its original form with many of its properties intact, explained Sivarajan.

In the next phase of its development, Al Affia Global plans to invest in the manufacture of finished goods, such as springs and fences, utilising steel wires extracted from waste tyres, he added.