Innovative Recycling of Giant ELT OTR through Water Jet

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

BACKGROUND

Natural rubber production amounted to around 13.9 million tonnes globally in 2018, a significant increase on 6.8 million tonnes in 2010. It is an important raw material for several industrial sectors, especially the automotive sector. Tyre production alone accounts for around 75% of all natural rubber produced globally. However, only a negligible quantity (less than 1%) of end of life tyres are recycled as a secondary raw material. Large off-the-road (OTR) tyres are not recycled since conventional technologies used for recycling car and truck tyres are unsuitable. Since 2017 natural rubberhas been included in the list of 26 European critical raw materials, passing the threshold for supply risk and economic importance. Currently, there is no substitute for natural rubber from hevea trees that could help meet doubling of demand for natural rubber production expected over the coming 20 years. As result, the expansion of natural rubber production poses a great threat to deforestation and biodiversity while increasing environmental problems related to the disposal of wastewater with high concentrations of biochemical and chemical oxygen demand (BOD and COD) and suspended solids.

OBJECTIVES

The main goal of the LIFE InReGEO project is to demonstrate an innovative and effective recycling process for end of life giant tyres comprising an industrial, clean, chemical-free, sustainable, scalable and cost-effective means of producing devulcanised natural rubber. It plans to construct a novel, chemical-free pilot plant based on high pressure water jet technology, enabling both the recycling of giant OTR tyres and the direct production of valuable secondary raw materials that are ready to be reintroduced for the first time without any further processing into the tyre manufacturing process.

The project objectives contribute to the implementation of the new circular economy plan, ensuring that the resources used are kept in the EU economy for as long as possible. Moreover, the project will contribute to the implementation of the Waste Framework Directive, improving the current management of end of life tyres and fostering the current extended producer responsibility scope, thus reducing illegal dumping and stockpiling. At national level, the project facilitates the adoption of the end-of-waste criteria for end of life tyres, according to the Italian Decree of July 2020.

RESULTS

Expected results:

Design and construction of a pilot plant to process around 0.28 tonnes/hour of giant OTR;

Processing and recycling of around 135 giant end-of-life OTR tyres (equivalent to 540 tonnes) previously stockpiled in Italy and other European countries;

Production of 394 tonnes of recycled rubber powders/granules (expected pilot plant yield of around 73%);

Production of rubber powders and the granules that can be used as a substitute for natural rubber for tyre re-treading or new tyre manufacturing (very high natural rubber content, high degree of devulcanisation (55-70%), no thermal degradation);

Replicability and transferability analysis and a business plan to demonstrate the lower material cost and the higher technological and commercial value of the powders and granules produced;

Recovery of around 125 tonnes of harmonic steel (which comprises 20-25% of the total weight giant OTR tyres) and compliant with recycled steel quality standards with a degree of purity of more than 98%; and

Water re-use during tyre processing (closed loop water recycling system). During the crumbling process, the whole system uses an average of 50 litres and an annual topping up of 5 litres is necessary.