CASE STUDY: Recircle – Pioneering a Circular Economy for Rubber
Recircle is a pioneering UK company at the forefront of transforming the rubber industry. Leveraging deep expertise in rubber technology, polymer science, engineering, and biotechnology, the company is rethinking how rubber is produced, used, and reused. Their mission is to create a truly circular economy for rubber, reducing industry waste and emissions through biotechnology and innovative recycling technologies.
Their breakthrough solutions target two critical areas:
Green Rubber: Technologies to reduce and recycle tyre manufacturing waste.
Biotechnology: Enzymatic processes that convert end-of-life tyres into virgin-identical feedstocks for reuse in new products.
By tackling one of the most challenging waste streams in modern manufacturing, Recircle is helping to reduce emissions, recover valuable resources and create a more sustainable future for the rubber industry.
The Challenge
Millions of tyres reach the end of their useful life every year, creating a significant environmental challenge. While rubber recycling technologies exist, recovering high-value materials that can be reused in manufacturing remains difficult.
Recircle set out to develop an innovative enzymatic recycling process capable of breaking down end-of-life tyres into reusable monomers and oligomers. To advance the technology towards commercialisation, several technical and economic challenges needed to be addressed:
Enzyme Production at Scale: Identifying and developing microbial strains capable of producing target enzymes in sufficient quantity via fermentation.
Rubber Breakdown Efficiency: Breaking down rubber crumbs into reusable molecular building blocks.
Product Separation: Efficiently separating various oligomers post-breakdown.
Process Viability: Understanding the economic implications of scaling up the technology through detailed assessments.
The Innovation Accelerator Partnership
To overcome these barriers and advance toward commercial viability, Recircle partnered with CPI through CEAMS.
Key Areas of Support:
Strain Development & Fermentation Trials
CPI supported Recircle in identifying a microbial strain for enzyme production.
Successfully demonstrated proof-of-concept in 1L and 5L fermenters.
Optimising Product Separation
Designed and executed a Design of Experiments (DoE) to evaluate separation methods for rubber breakdown products.
Provided actionable insights for improving yield and purity.
Techno-Economic and Viability Analysis
Delivered Economic Viability Assessment (EVA) and Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA) documents.
Enabled Recircle to assess multiple commercialisation without investing significant engineering time.
These assessments provided a clearer understanding of potential costs, operational requirements and routes to market.
The Outcome
The CEAMS collaboration helped Recircle achieve several important milestones in the development of its circular rubber technology:
Validated enzyme-based recycling as a scalable pathway for processing rubber waste.
Identified key process bottlenecks and potential strategies for overcoming them.
Gained clarity on the economic feasibility of commercial-scale implementation.
Informed strategic decisions around process development and investment.
Accelerated the company's journey towards a circular economy solution for end-of-life tyres.
Through access to specialist expertise, facilities and assessment tools, Recircle has strengthened the foundations for scaling its technology and bringing sustainable rubber recycling closer to commercial reality.
Looking Ahead
Recircle is now well-positioned to scale its technology and continue leading the charge toward a circular rubber economy. With data-backed insights and validated processes, the company is advancing toward a more sustainable and economically sound solution for rubber waste.