INDEX

Chapter No. Title Page No.

1. Introduction 1
2. History 1
3. Need for recycling 2
4. Tyre Recycling 3
5. Comparison between Ambient
and Cryogenic Processing:

7
6. Advantages of cryogenic
recycling
8
7. Applications of crumb rubber 9
8. Reference 10




A SEMINAR REPORT ON CRYOGENIC RECYCLING OF TYRES:
INTRODUCTION:
A concise definition of recycling would be the re-use of a material for its originally
intended purpose, e.g. old aluminum cans are used to make new ones. In the case of scrap tires,
recycling would mean the use recycled tire rubber as a compounding ingredient for new tires. In
a broader sense, recycling is referred to as grinding scrap tires into crumb rubber while removing
steel, fiber and other contaminants. In some countries, the markets and applications for recycled
tire rubber (crumb rubber) have developed tremendously in the past decade. As a rule of
thumb, the scrap tire generation in industrialized countries is approximately one passenger car
tire equivalent (PTE, 20 lbs., 9 kg) per population and year. The technology to turn a potentially
hazardous waste product (i.e., scrap tires) into a valuable resource is available now.
In cryogenic recycling of tyres, whole tyre or tyre chips are cooled down to a temperature
of below 80 C (-112 F). Below this glass transition temperature, rubber becomes nearly as
brittle and glass and size reduction can be accomplished by crushing and breaking. This type of
size reduction requires less energy and fewer pieces of machinery when compared to ambient
size reduction. The crumb rubber form then can be used for a number of applications.
HISTORY:
Rubber recycling is not new. In fact its history goes back more than a hundred years to a time
when rubber was a scarce commodity. In the early 1900s, the average recycled content of all
rubber products was over 50%. In fact, is fair to say that the rubber reclaiming industry is as old
as the industrial use of rubber itself. One reason for the flourishing rubber grinding and
reclaiming industry lies in the comparatively scarce supply of rubber at that time.
In 1910, an ounce of rubber cost the same as an ounce of silver and it made perfect sense
to reuse as much of this valuable commodity as possible. Over time, rubber recycling declined.
Some of the reasons for this are:
1. The increased use of synthetic rubber made from cheap imported oil. This reduced the
value of recycled rubber and made it less cost-effective.
2. To the development and spread of steel belted radials tires were introduced in the late
1960ies and early 1970ies, it became increasingly difficult to grind or slice old tires. As a
consequence, the old infrastructure for regrinding and reusing waste tires has been almost
completely lost. As of 1995, the traditional tire and rubber industry used only about 2% recycled
material. With the decline in rubber recycling came the growth of stockpiles of scrap tires.
However, technical developments in the past decade (like effective ambient and
cryogenic grinding methods and new environmentally friendly devulcanizing methods) make it
very likely that the use of recycled tire materials will increase significantly.
NEED FOR RECYCLING OF TYRES:
i. Annual Generation-More than 300 million scrap tires are generated (in the US and
Canada itself) each year. For many years scrap tires have been accumulating in landfills,
illegal stockpiles, vacant lots, fields, abandoned buildings and roadsides. These
stockpiles can pose a serious threat to public health and safety, as well as to the
environment.
ii. Hazards of tire piles- Large stockpiles have the potential for large fires that are
tremendously detrimental to the environment and extremely hard to extinguish once
started. Large fires may burn for months all the while creating black smoke and toxic
liquid run-off. The smoke contains toxic chemicals and air pollutants while toxic
chemicals from the run-off are released into surrounding water and soil. Attempts to
extinguish fires by conventional means can actually increase the damage.
iii. Even tires that are disposed of in sanitary landfills create environmental
problems. Buried tires sometimes swim their way back to the surface which can result
in expensive damage to landfill cover and containment systems. For this reason, many
jurisdictions have banned the land filling of whole tires.
TYRE RECYCLING:
Nearly all processors begin by shredding the tyre. This primary reduction step reduces
the volume of tires and creates a material that is more easily handled. Tire shredders typically
are shear shredders with two counter rotating shafts producing 2-inch shreds. The shred is further
reduced using either an ambient or cryogenic system.
Ambient system:


i. In this plant layout, the tires are first processed into chips of 2 (50 mm) in size in a
preliminary shredder (A).
ii. The tire chips then enter a granulator (B). In this processing step the chips are reduced to
a size of smaller than 3/8 (10 mm), while liberating most of the steel and fiber from the
rubber granules.
iii. After exiting the granulator, steel is removed magnetically and the fiber fraction is
removed by a combination of shaking screens and wind sifters (C).
iv. While there is some demand for 3/8 rubber granules, most applications call for finer
mesh material, mostly in the range of 10 to 30 mesh. For this reason, most ambient
grinding plants have a number of consecutive grinding steps (D).
The machines most commonly used for fine grinding in ambient plants are:
Secondary granulators
High speed rotary mills
Extruders or screw presses
Cracker mills
Ambient grinding can be operated safely and economically if the bulk of the rubber
output needs to be relatively coarse material, i.e., down to approximately 20 mesh material.
Shredding:
Nearly all processors first shredded the scrap tire into chips, mostly 2 in size. By shredding,
the volume of scrap tires can be reduced to about , thus reducing space requirement and
shipping costs. At the same time, tire chips are easier to handle with standard equipment like
front end loaders or bobcats. The most common machines used for pre-shredding scrap tires are
rotary shear shredders with two counter rotating shafts. The machines are designed to work at
low RPMs (20 to 40 RPM) and high torque and can easily handle all sorts of tires, including
truck tires, super singles and farm equipment tires. Some operators use a debeader to remove the
steel beads from truck tires prior to shredding. Debeading significantly reduces wear and tear on
the shredder and consecutive size reduction machines. While the steel bead represents only 10
15 % of the weight of a truck tire, it is probably safe to state that the 1 thick circular steel cables
are responsible for 70% of the wear and tear in the shredder as well as in the consecutive
grinding machines. Tire shredding can be considered a mature technology and reliable machines
are being offered by a number of reputable companies throughout North America and Western
Europe. Most shredders are powered by electric motors (approx. 200 300 HP) and have a
capacity of 2 6 tons per hour, depending on the input material and the size of the chips
produced.
Cryogenic system:
In a cryogenic system the tire shreds, or in some cases the whole tire, is super-cooled
using liquid nitrogen. The cold rubber, now extremely brittle, is processed through a hammer
mill which shatters the rubber into smaller particles. The output is dried and classified into
specific gradations. Smaller particles can be produced with the cryogenic process than with an
ambient system. It requires fewer pieces of equipment than the ambient system and energy and
maintenance costs may be less. A drawback of the cryogenic process is the cost of liquid
nitrogen. Cryogenic crumb rubber particles have very smooth surfaces compared to crumb
produced ambiently.

i. The cryogenic process shown in Figure begins with preliminary shredding, which
is largely the same as in ambient plants.
ii. The tyre chips are then cooled in a continuously operating freezing tunnel (B) to
below -120C, and then dropped into a high-rpm hammer mill (C).
iii. In the hammer mill, chips are shattered into a wide range of particle sizes.
iv. Because the rubber granules may be damp upon leaving the hammer mill, the
material is dried (E) before classification into different, well defined particle sizes
(F).
v. A secondary cryogenic grinding step (G) is required to produce fine rubber
powder.








The cryogen, liquid nitrogen at 77K is in the cryo tank and is thermally insulated. A
conveyor is used to charge the scrap into the tank through. It is charged to cryogen bath and
cooled. Cooling of the scrap simultaneously leads to vaporization of liquid nitrogen. Then, the













Breaker
Conveyor
Curtain
Gas out
Gas recycler Ductwork
Cryogen Tank
Cryogen Addition
Curtain
scrap is removed from the bath and is broken by a breaker. A curtain is used to seal the cryogen
on the withdrawal of scrap steel from the tank.
COMPARISON BETWEEN AMBIENT AND CRYOGENIC PROCESSING:
Parameter

Ambient Cryogenic
Size reduction
principle
Cutting, tearing, shearing Braking cryogenically embrittled
rubber pieces
Particle Morphology spongy and rough even and smooth
Particle Size
Distribution
relatively narrow particle size
distribution, only limited size
reduction per grinding step
wide particle size distribution
(ranging 10 mm to 0.2 mm) in just
one processing step
Operating Temp.
Max. 120
0
C Below -80
0
C
Maintenance cost Higher Lower
Electricity
Consumption
Higher Lower
LN2 Consumption N/A 0.5 1.0 kgLN2 per kg tire input

Advantages:
i. Smaller particles can be produced with the cryogenic process than with an ambient
system.
ii. It requires fewer pieces of equipment than the ambient system and energy and
maintenance costs may be less.
iii. Cryogenic crumb rubber particles have very smooth surfaces compared to crumb
produced ambiently.
iv. Little or no heat is generated in the process, resulting in less degradation of the rubber.
v. There is optimum economic benefit by its 10% usage in passenger car tires and in truck
tires manufacturing.
vi. The unique nature of the surface morphology of the cryoground rubber particle facilitates
venting of trapped air in unvulcanized rubber laminate (a thin slice of porcelain or plastic
fabricated in a dental lab, which is cemented to the front of the teeth to cover gaps,
whiten stained teeth, or reshape chipped or broken teeth) products, particularly tires, thus
reducing propensity for cure blistering. Significant reductions in halobuty1 inner liner
blistering have been reported.
vii. Landfill costs and tipping fees have risen dramatically in these years and are expected to
continue to rise. A number of landfills have closed their doors to tires and scrap rubber
already making re-utilization of rubber scrap by manufacturers a viable economic
alternative.
viii. Concern over nitrosamines, heavy metal contamination, and concern about effects on the
water table of deteriorating rubber products further drives the incentive toward recycling
of these materials. Use of cryogenically recycled materials reduces chemical releases by
virtue of substitution of vulcanized (To improve the strength, resiliency, and freedom
from stickiness and odor of (rubber, for example) by combining with sulfur or other
additives in the presence of heat) for unvulcanized materials.
From an environmental standpoint, cryogenic recycling makes solid economic sense and is
in the best interest of both manufacturer and consumer.
Applications of crumb rubber:
i. Shredded tire chips are used in civil engineering applications as a substitute for
conventional construction materials such as crushed rock or gravel.
ii. Smaller rubber chips may be colored and are used as playground cover and
landscaping mulch.
iii. The largest market for crumb rubber is the molded products sector which uses crumb
rubber in combination with urethane binders. Products include agricultural mats,
sports flooring, speed bumps, railway crossings, weightlifting plates, acoustic
flooring, Swimming Pool Surrounds, Garden Paths Floor Mats for Cars and Trucks,
Rubberized Asphalt for Roads and Driveways, etc.
iv. Civil Engineering Applications: Tire derived products, mostly 1 tire chips are
sometimes used to replace conventional construction material, e.g., road fill, gravel,
crushed rock or sand. The benefits of using tire chips instead of conventional
construction materials are amongst others: reduced density, improved drainage
properties and better thermal insulation. The following are examples of projects
where scrap tire chips have been successfully used in civil engineering applications:
Lightweight fill for embankments and retaining walls.
Leachate drainage material at municipal solid waste landfills.
Alternative daily cover at municipal solid waste landfills.
Insulating layer beneath roads and behind retaining walls
Civil engineering applications of scrap tires are expected to become more widespread as
more and more applications can be proven to be technically and economically viable. On average
less than 5% of a new tire consists of recycled rubber.


REFRENCES:
www.entire-engineering.de/Scrap_Tire_Recycling
www.arrowheadintlinc.com
www.ritcryo.com
www.rumalind.com
www.zerowasteamerica.org
www.howstuffworks.com