Don't burn those tires!

EarthFirst Technologies (OTC BB: EFTI.OB) and Orion Industrial Services said today they would work together on the mounting tire problem in the U.S.

"We are building a truly commercial machine to run 24/7 and is designed to make high quality by-products from a waste stream," said Orion's John Kateon, who was named president and CEO of the new joint venture.

Tampa, Fla.-based EarthFirst, which has a pilot catalytic activated vacuum distillation, or CAVD, reactor in Mobile, Ala., said the two companies will be working on its next-generation tire processing plant.

Orion is headquartered in Theodore, Ala., just a short drive from the plant.

Earlier this year, Lafarge Canada and its partner Systech Environmental said they were selected to collect and process over 900,000 scrap tires in Nova Scotia (see Used tires repurposed as fuel in Canada).

Lafarge plans to use the scrap tires as an alternate fuel source at its cement kilns in Nova Scotia and Quebec.

The EarthFirst reactor, named "Green-Go" has operated for over 750 hours, deconstructing over 1 million pounds of tire chips into recoverable by-products consisting of carbon black, oil, steel and syngas.

EarthFirst said in customer tests, its CAVD carbon black has been successfully substituted for series 700 virgin carbon blacks and the CAVD tire oil has been found to be similar to a No.6 residual oil.

"EarthFirst’s tire process creates high energy gas and liquid fuels low in toxic polyaromatics, and a carbon black proven to substitute for blacks derived from petroleum," said Brad Mierau, VP of operations at EarthFirst's Wesco unit.

Under the terms of the agreement, EarthFirst's Wesco unit will contribute intellectual property rights, use of the Mobile facility and up to $450,000 cash to the joint venture.

Orion is also putting up some intellectual property, as well as construction and operational resources plus cash or cash equivalents of up to $850,000.

Profits are expected to be shared equally.

Tampa, Fla.-based EarthFirst said it discovered a previously disregarded carbon product and unused reactor technology when going over two years of data from the pilot reactor, which started operations in 2004.

The company said the new technology will be used in the upgraded reactor design.

"In addition to producing commercially viable products, the recovery of carbon black already present in tires allows for reductions in green-house gas emissions relative to virgin production methods," said Mierau.

Mierau said tires should no longer be burned or buried because each tire contains more than 5 pounds of valuable carbon, over 40,000 BTU's of gas and 1.5 gallons of oil.

"EarthFirst's Green-Go Reactor could lead an industry revolution in handling of the 285 million waste tires generated in the United States annually," he said.

The company said its CAVD process recovers the carbon, gas and oil by-products using an estimated 5 percent of the energy while producing only 5 percent of the carbon dioxide it takes to create virgin carbon black and oil products.

"If we are serious as a Nation about CO2 reduction and going green, there is no better way to dispose of tires," said Kateon.

EarthFirst said its process has been certified by Oak Ridge National Laboratory as producing virtually no fugitive emissions.

Earlier this year, the Mobile reactor was granted a full operating air-permit by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.

Work on upgrading the reactor is expected to begin within 45 days and scheduled for completion by years' end.

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