Abstract - Industrial Research Technology Group, LTD., 9360524 Each year the U.S. population generates over 250 million scrap ties, equivalent to one tire for each man, woman, and child. Tires can not be buried in landfills because they eventually float to the surface, breaking the seal between landfill layers and ruining the integrity of the landfill. Landfilling while tires is illegal in most states. The historical disposal method is to collect them in piles and store them in open fields. The inherent risk of tire piles are demonstrated in occasional massive fires. These are difficult to extinguish and send huge clouds of thick smoke into the atmosphere. In addition, such piles are the breeding grounds to rats and mosquitoes. The U.S. stockpiles of discarded automobile tires have in excess of 4.0 billion tires. The piles are growing in spite of all efforts to convert scrap tires to some usable form. Recovery and recycling to date have met a success rate of less than 10% of the annual discarded totals for automobile tires and less than 30% for truck tires. Scrap tire distillation is the most economical way to recover the energy in scrap tires, particularly if one can reuse the solid char distillation product. The char has properties similar to carbon black which makes up about 25% of the rubber formula. The rubber industry wants to recover scrap tires and reuse the ingredients. This SBIR Phase I research project will provide data that could facilitate using distillation char. Characterization of the carbon black properties of char is planned followed by the formulation of rubber compounds substituting char for commercial carbon black. Compounds of natural rubber, SBR, and EPDM will be formulated and compared with conventional compounds for mechanical performance. The formulae will then be adjusted to match the performance of conventional carbon black. This project hopes to demonstrate that scrap tire distillation char can produce rubber compounds with competitive prop erties. Char is lower cost than conventional carbon black since the char raw material production provided a service of recovering scrap tires and the char manufacturing process produces energy rather than consuming it. This should reduce the barriers to using scrap tire distillation char in rubber compounds and pave the way for economical recovery of scrap tires and rubber.
