Tires and Steel Mills

Some steel mills have found a way to use whole tires in their processes. They use the carbon in the tires to replace coal which is added to produce carbon steel. At Nucor Steel Auburn (New York), steel scrap and whole tires are heated to 3100 degrees Fahrenheit, producing recycled carbon steel without consuming coal. Though the tires are consumed during the process, Nucor doesn't burn tires as a fuel source.

Developed in Nebraska, the patented Stebbing Engineering Scrap Tire Process replaces coal with tires in batches of recycled steel. The carbon content of old tires replaces carbon usually supplied by coal. The tires contribute both carbon and steel to the steelmaking process.

Most car tires have 10 to 15 percent steel content, and are 65 percent carbon. Some truck tires run as high as 30 percent steel content. The coal the tires replace is more than 80 percent carbon, so Nucor must use more tires to equal the same carbon content of coal.

(Source: WasteWatch, October 2003)

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