Bolder buys former Pyrolyx plant in Indiana

Boulder, Colorado-based Bolder Industries Inc. has announced the purchase of the former Pyrolyx facility in Terre Haute, Indiana. The 66,000 square foot location, which ceased operations in March 2020, will be retrofitted with Bolder’s chemical process to handle scrap tires, using what Bolder calls “a currently permitted facility” to increase its manufacturing capacity within the first year of operations.

The initial renovation phase is expected to be completed in early 2023 and is being planned to convert approximately 3 million tires per year into Bolder’s products: BolderBlack carbon black and BolderOil fuel. The company says its process also generates steel scrap.

Bolder says the move will create an overall increase of nearly three times its prior capacity. The company says it has a successful track record of retrofitting existing manufacturing operations, including its purchase of a facility in Maryville, Missouri in 2014.

That location “has continued production 24 hours a day since it began full commercial operations in February of 2019,” states the firm. Bolder says it currently supplies some of the largest brands in the world “with sustainable raw materials in the petrochemical, tire manufactured rubber goods, plastics and auto” sectors.

“As a native Hoosier, it's incredibly rewarding to come back to my home state and revive a great concept and facility,” says Bolder Industries CEO Tony Wibbeler. “The Terre Haute facility is in an excellent location and has great elements that complement our proprietary technology and process. This purchase enables us to expand our capacity to meet current customer demand now and provides for future growth.”

Bolder Industries says it plans to invest approximately $40 million into the first phase of the project. In the recovery process to be put in place in Terre Haute, 98 percent of the tire’s materials are harvested, with 75 percent of the solids and liquids making their way back into new tires, manufactured rubber goods and plastics, says the company.

Bolder Industries’ raw materials yield an average of 85 percent savings in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water usage and power usage compared to traditional raw materials production, says the firm.

A recently announced partnership with Pittsburgh-based Liberty Tire Recycling “will play an integral role in supplying end-of-life tires as feedstock to this facility” and the company’s increased capacity, according to Bolder.