This is an award to support continued research on the feasibility of using discarded vehicle tires for producing marketable forms of carbon. The proposal leading to this recommendation results from successful completion of a Phase I, Small Business Innovation Research project conducted under NSF Grant No. 92- 15045 in which the feasibility of a pyrolysis process to convert used tires into potentially marketable carbon products was demonstrated. In Phase II, the investigator plans on extending work initiated during the previous phase to address questions of optimal tire particle size, gas composition for the activation step and the potential uses for process by-products. A significant problem in management of solid wastes is addressed by the project. Accumulations of tires on occasion become ignited causing significant environmental problems. Methods to reprocess tires for recovery and reuse of their components may be a more environmentally correct way of dealing with them than either controlled or uncontrolled combustion. This Phase II award was made in accord with procedures contained in Program Solicitation NSF 90-31, Small Business Innovation Research.
