Rubber remediation

The Irish firm Midwest Transport is to pay WESCO - a subsidiary of US-based EarthFirst Technologies - a $700,000 one-time licensing fee to exclusively market its proprietary Catalytic Activated Vacuum Distillation (CAVD) technology in Ireland and the UK. The CAVD technology is used in tyre reprocessing plants.

An agreement between the two outfits also requires Midwest Transport to purchase three CAVD rubber tyre remediation plants: one CAVD plant in Ireland and two in the UK at a price of $6.5 million per plant.

Each plant, which will be fabricated, constructed and installed by WESCO, will process a minimum of 48 tons of tyres per day.

The plant in Ireland will be operational within approximately eight months and the first plant in the UK within 20 months. The second plant in the UK is required to be operational within 38 months.

EarthFirst will also receive a royalty payment equal to 7.5% of gross sales of carbon, oil and steel by-products produced from the remediation of rubber tyres processed at each plant. The royalties will continue for the life of each plant, estimated to be ten years.