Old tyres are historically difficult to dispose of in a sustainable, environmentally friendly way. Often getting tossed aside in landfills, researchers at the Tubitak Marmara Research Centre in Turkey have found a new way to recover old tyres for recycling.
Using sand to react with the old rubber, scientists in Gebze, Turkey are able to turn the used tyres into silicon carbide, a material that can garner up to €10,000 per tonne. Commerically called carborundum, the silicon carbide is made up from carbon and silicon atoms that arrange in a diamond-like shape. The result is a material with diamond-like properties.
The substance retains a wide range of uses including tool cutting, bullet proof vests, ceramic brakes, and abrasives. It can also be used by the energy sector as a semiconductor for high-voltage technology.
Typically made by heating sand with carbon from oil or coal in an electric furnace, scientists at Tubitak have found a way to use both the energy and carbon found in old tyres to mimick the process. The tyres are gasified first, releasing hydrogen and carbon monoxide, leaving a residue called carbon black.
The carbon black is then harvested from the process, mixed with sand and heated. The result is a high-grade form of silicon carbide and an old tyre saved from rotting in landfill.
The research at Tubitak has been conducted as part of a larger collaboration of nine bodies in the TyGRe project funded by the European Union. The project began as a means of managing the more than 325,000 tonnes of old tyres going to landfill each year.
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