RJLG to Build Tire Recycling Plant in Western PA
By Bob Niedbala, Staff writer, Observer Reporter

RJ Lee Group has presented plans to the Greene County Planning Commission to construct a tire recycling plant at Paisley Industrial Park in Cumberland Township, PA. The plans will be reviewed by the commission at its April 7, 2008, meeting in the second floor conference room at the Greene County Office Building. The Company earlier had applied for a state permit for the plant, which will employ a new method developed and patented to recycle shredded used tires.

Plans submitted to the commission indicate RJLG will construct two buildings, together containing 44,500 square feet of floor space, on a 10-acre site on Areford Boulevard in the park. The plant will create products of a higher value than those created through normal tire recycling processes. Its "depolymerization" process will break down rubber from tire shreds into oil that can be used for heating fuel and carbon black, a material used to produce new tires and other rubber products.

The plant, which eventually could employ 35 to 40 people, is expected to process about 40 tons of shredded tires a day. RJLG has a similar plant in operation in Berthold, ND.
In addition, as part of a demonstration project, RJLG is taking tires from a tire dump in Perry Township, known as the Kiger tire pile, to its North Dakota plant for processing. The project will demonstrate the company's new process also can work on tires exposed to weather for extended periods of time. RJLG received a $250,000 state grant to conduct the demonstration project.

RJLG is headquartered in Monroeville, PA and has offices at EverGreene Technology Park in Franklin Township, Greene County. The company is involved primarily in material characterization using tools such as scanning electron microscopes to determine the make-up of materials.

At EverGreene, the company is developing a system for the U.S. Air Force to determine the condition of aircraft engines from information gained through an analysis of engine oil that can reveal materials that indicate engine wear.