Recycling of tyres

The disposal of worn tyres and their economic recycling mean a great challenge nowadays. Tire recycling is the process of recycling waste tires that are no longer suitable for use on vehicles due to wear or irreparable damage. Massive disposal sites of scrap tires are common in many cities of modern times, as about 1 scrap tire is produced per person every year. The stored used tires slowly degrade under the effects of solar radiation as well as rusting of steel takes place. Degraded material slowly contaminates soil and underground water over years. One of the overseen problems of scrap tire disposal yards is that these areas become breeding places for rodents and mosquitoes. Stagnant water that collects inside tires is a suitable breeding place for mosquitoes. Elimination of scrap tire disposal sites by proper recycling would also have secondary advantages of eliminating disposal related problems. The most popular recycling of scrap tires at element level - that includes some form of chemical decomposition or transformation - is different than the mechanical process. Chemical recycling has additional advantages of obtaining well defined building blocks of a tire separately (such as steel wires, natural gas, oil, carbon black, charcoal etc.). The process in a way reverses the manufacturing process and obtains the elements forming a tire backwards. The materials then can be directly sold or used for energy in factories or diesel cars. The best way would be to devulcanize the rubber and reuse it in new rubber products. The most straightforward option is, however, to combine (to blend) particulate rubber with a polymeric material having the ability to flow under certain conditions (supported usually by the action of heat and/or pressure), so that it can be shaped into products at acceptable cost. EVA copolymer was added to improve the adhesion and to achieve improved rubber-like properties. The goal of this study was to investigate the foam rubber (also known as cellular, sponge, or expanded rubber) refers to rubber that has been manufactured with a foaming agent and copolymer to create an air-filled matrix structure. Commercial foam rubbers are generally made of either polyurethane which is expensive. This new composition advantages are to be cheaper and environmental friendly and show good mechanical properties. That product can be use as elastic shockpad layer.

Technology Readiness Level: TRL 5 - 6

Recipient: OLÁH GUMI | www.olahgumirecycling.hu