A Multifaceted Approach for Cryogenic Waste Tire Recycling

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Environmental Engineering
• Chemical Engineering

Background:

• Industrial waste, particularly polymer waste from automotive tires, poses a significant environmental challenge.
• Recycling rubber waste is crucial for mitigating long-term pollution and promoting sustainability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a simplified approach for recycling automotive tire rubber waste using cryogenic temperatures.
• To determine optimal conditions for the rubber waste recycling process through experimental and numerical studies.

Main Methods:

• Cryogenic treatment of rubber waste using liquid nitrogen at temperatures ranging from 77 K to 280 K.
• Experimental determination of optimal mechanical shock force for cryo-treated tire destruction.
• Numerical simulations using COMSOL Multiphysics to model the recycling process.
• Analysis of crumb rubber properties using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS).

Main Results:

• Cryogenic treatment renders tire rubber into a glassy state, facilitating mechanical destruction.
• Optimal mechanical shock force for efficient grinding was experimentally determined.
• SEM and EDS analysis confirmed that the morphology and elemental composition of the resulting crumb rubber remain unchanged.
• The proposed cryogenic recycling method is demonstrated to be environmentally friendly.

Conclusions:

• Cryogenic processing offers a viable and simplified method for recycling automotive tire rubber.
• The process effectively breaks down rubber waste without altering its fundamental chemical and physical properties.
• This approach contributes to sustainable waste management and the circular economy.