This project seeks to increase the average number of times commercial vehicle tires are re-manufactured (retreaded) through the development of instruments and techniques that can assess the remaining useful life of tires in operation and optimize tire remanufacture.
Project Team:
Michelin North America, Northwestern University
20-01-RM-4006
Alternative process technologies will be experimentally evaluated to upgrade carbon black recovered from end-of-life tires to meet carbon black market quality specifications. Approximately 3.87 Mt of waste tires accrue every year in the United States. If all these tires were processed to recover the carbon black, about 1.1 Mt of carbon black could be recovered to use as a secondary feedstock.
Project Team:
University of Utah, OTR Wheel Engineering/Green Carbon Inc., Idaho National Laboratory
18-01-RR-19
This project seeks to improve the recycling efficiency of recovered rubber materials from used tires back into new tires, by increasing the addition of micronized rubber powder (MRP) from used tires in the production of composite polymer materials (CPM) which is used in the production of new tires. CPM is a blend of MRP and virgin rubber. Increasing the use of MRP for new tires significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions versus other tire recycling processes such as tire burning in cement kilns, crumb or reclaimed rubber manufacturing. While MRP is an attractive cost-effective option for recycling of tires, its incorporation into new tire compounds is limited to ensure that those compounds have properties equivalent to virgin polymers.
This project will develop an understanding of the properties of MRP as a function of the MRP feedstock (used tires) and processing conditions for the production of MRP. This would enable the development of specifications for sorting of used tires and grinding of the tires MRP, together with the associated formulations and tire constructions that will allow higher incorporation of MRP back into new tires without degradation in tire performance, including reliability, durability and rolling resistance. The estimated energy savings for this project are 21PJ per year.
Project Team:
Michelin, Northwestern University, Nike
18-02-RR-02
This project will examine ways to better utilize ground tire rubber from recycled tires and use the particles in asphalt pavement. Ground tire rubber is currently being used as an asphalt modifier, however because of the difference in density with asphalt it suffers from inadequate storage stability, rendering it an un-preferred material in asphalt paving.
Iowa State University has developed a technology that matches ground rubber tire density with asphalt (and enables the substitution of SBS elastomers that are otherwise used in asphalt) with simple compounding techniques, producing a asphalt product that meets storage stability specifications that would be more acceptable to the paving industry. The energy savings opportunity from this technology is estimated at 4.2 PJ per year.
Project Team:
Iowa State University, Michelin, Lehigh Technologies (Subsidiary of Michelin)
18-02-MM-03