What are Some Uses for Recycled Tires?

Waste tires produced in China are increasing at a rate of 8% to 10% each year. In 2010, China produced about 250 million waste tires, and the recycling rate was only about 50%, less than 50% of western developed countries, resulting in a huge waste of resources.

Chinese name: Waste tire
Number: Increasing from 8% to 10%

Recycling rate: Around 50%
as a result of: Cause huge waste of resources

Waste tire recycling

Current status of waste tires

With the gradual improvement of people's living standards and the rapid development of the logistics industry, the number of private cars and trucks in China has increased year by year. The increase in the number of vehicles has promoted economic development, while the consumption and wear of automobile tires has also generated a lot of garbage-waste tires. A few years ago, used tires were thrown away as garbage, which greatly polluted the environment we live on. At this time, an emerging industry quietly emerged, this is-waste tire recycling. With the passage of time, the waste tire industry has gradually developed and formed its own complete system. According to incomplete statistics, currently there are more than 10,000 employees in waste tires and related industries in China. There are unlimited business opportunities.

There are several fate when the old tires are replaced from the car:

First, it is sold or given to the master who repairs tires or the seller who collects tires, or to the seller who collects waste products.

1. Less worn (can be used) is sold upside down to the driver to continue to use;

2. The refurbished or fire repaired can be sold to the refurbished or fire repaired or tire tyre processor for processing, and then continue to be used by the master who repairs the tire or directly sold to the driver;

3. Worn and worn tires (discarded) will be sold to the corresponding processing plant for fragmentation or refining, and then further processed;

4. It can be made into various rubber products, such as steel cord fabric, nylon cord fabric, old tire basin, etc.

Second, the recycling and processing system of waste tires that have been left at home or sold or discarded in China for some time is relatively complete and has begun to take shape.

Waste tire prospects

Waste tire "If you don't take the road of recycling and make full use of the waste tires produced every year, after 15-20 years, when China's car ownership reaches the level of the United States, it may not be enough to sell natural rubber all over the world to China." 10 On June 13, at the "2012 China Tire Retreading and Recycling Annual Conference and China Tire Resource Utilization International Technology Exchange Forum", Zhu Jun, president of the China Tire Recycling and Recycling Association, told reporters.

During the forum, tire repair and recycling industry experts and enterprises from all over the country made sounds from different perspectives: At present, there is still a lot of room for the full utilization of waste tire resources as "urban minerals" to develop. Deploying, accelerating the pace of development, and alleviating the plight of China's lack of rubber resources can exhaust the timetable.

Waste tire right to speak

Natural rubber tree is a unique species, and its distribution in China is very narrow. As a result, China's natural rubber resources are very limited. With the rapid economic development, China's demand for rubber resources is becoming more urgent.

"China's rubber dependence on foreign countries is the highest among China's bulk strategic reserves, exceeding 70%. The consumption of China's rubber resources has increased year by year and has ranked first in the world for 10 consecutive years. The contradiction between supply and demand is very prominent." To reporters.

Liu Shuangxi specifically pointed out that an increasingly obvious fact has long been harshly placed in front of the Chinese rubber industry: As China becomes the largest consumer of rubber resources, the main rubber producing countries alliance is trying to exclude China.

"I believe that excessive reliance on imported resources will cause great harm to the sustainable development of our economy. The practice of the main rubber producers union is actually trying to deprive China of its right to participate in international rubber production, price, and market rules." Liu Shuangxi explained.

The scarcity of natural rubber resources hinders the development of the rubber industry to a certain extent, but the development and utilization of renewable rubber resources can still make up for some gaps.

Countries around the world are very concerned about the comprehensive utilization of waste tire resources. The use of waste tire renewable resources can alleviate the shortage of industrial production raw materials to a certain extent, especially in the areas of rubber, steel wire, and carbon black; the pollution caused by its use process is more The primary resources are small; the use price is lower than the primary resources, which can produce greater economic benefits and increase employment.

Internationally, different development stages, development methods, and labor prices have led to different ways of using waste tires in different countries.

According to reports, a large part of waste tires in developed countries are processed through thermal energy utilization, used tire retreading, and export abroad. China's treatment method focuses more on material utilization. Therefore, China should strive to develop technologies for the use of used tires.

Liu Shuangxi believes that the main reason for this discrepancy is that developed countries' disposal of used tires is largely carried out from the perspective of 'black garbage', so some tires will be exported abroad to reduce local disposal. Pressure, and did not realize that used tires are an important rubber resource; many developed countries have a very large number of tires, but the tires they use are largely imported, so the pressure on their rubber resources is not prominent; compared to the use of thermal energy, The use of materials requires less human resources, so this method of treatment is adopted more by developed countries.

In his opinion, although thermal energy recovery can well solve the problem of waste tire disposal, from the perspective of resource utilization, a large part of rubber resources are wasted, which is not the best way to recycle. Compared with developed countries' disposal of waste tires from the perspective of environmental protection, the recycling of waste tire resources in China is more in line with China's national conditions and is an international trend.

"Renewable resources must be the main source of future resources. If China can accelerate its participation in the international cycle of waste tires, it will be able to occupy more cheap waste tire resources and alleviate the plight of China's lack of rubber resources." Liu Shuangxi said.

Waste tire technology advantages

In fact, due to the disadvantages of China's natural rubber resources, China's R & D in rubber utilization technology has been continuously strengthened and achieved significant results. Some experts once asserted that after the development of the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan", China's rubber industry has become a major country in the world's rubber industry, and the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" will be an important stage for China to become a world rubber industry powerhouse.

At this stage, the strength of the research and development of waste tire recycling resources is outstanding. According to Zhu Jun, president of the China Tire Overhaul and Recycling Association, for example, at the end of last year, the "Key Technologies and Demonstrations for Remanufacturing Waste Car Tires" project jointly undertaken by Chongqing Chaoke Industrial Development Co., Ltd. and Chongqing University passed expert review and acceptance. Technology has mastered the ultra-low temperature pre-curing technology, breaking the technological monopoly of foreign companies and forming independent intellectual property rights. At the same time, an annual output of 500,000 waste automobile tire remanufacturing production lines was officially put into operation, marking a major breakthrough in China's waste tire remanufacturing technology.

During the forum, the reporter had the honor to visit Qingdao Rubber Valley, China. The total planned area of Qingdao Rubber Valley established in 2011 is more than 3,000 acres, of which the core area occupies more than 500 acres and the building area is about 1 million square meters. High-end industrial clusters supported by universities, research structures, well-known rubber companies and related intermediary services.

Qingdao Wanfang Recycling Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd., established by relying on the National Tire Technology and Control Engineering Technology Research Center, the China Tire Overhaul and Recycling Association, and Qingdao University of Science and Technology, specializes in the research and development of waste tire recycling technology and equipment, and builds global waste Industrial platform for tire recycling. Qingdao Wanfang Recycling Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. revealed that in the field of waste tire rubber recycling, Wanfang tire refurbishment technology has reached the international advanced level, and has successfully entered the international market. Refurbished tires have obtained US DOT certification.

Waste tires "going out"

The take-off of technology has provided a driving force for the development of the industry. A new trend that is particularly noteworthy is that the movement of capital has opened up the international market for the Chinese rubber recycling industry.

The forum revealed that some Chinese rubber companies have already tried to go global. For example, Sailun Co., Ltd. has been approved to invest in Vietnam to set up Sailun (Vietnam) Co., Ltd. After the project is completed, it will rely on the local natural rubber resources to take advantage of the policy advantages of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area and preferential treatment between Vietnam and Western developed countries Bilateral trade policy, develop overseas business and expand overseas development space. After Dalian Rubber & Plastic Machinery Co., Ltd. acquired Canadian Macro Machinery Engineering Co., Ltd. in 2011, it also acquired 90% of the shares of a well-known European rubber machinery manufacturer in 2012. In July 2012, with the efforts of the association, Nantong Shibaike Rubber Products Co., Ltd. and Jiangsu Yisheng Investment Co., Ltd. were approved by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine as pilot units for the import of used tires.

Zhu Jun said that the "Implementation Opinions on Encouraging and Guiding Private Enterprises to Actively Invest Overseas" issued in 2012 has brought new opportunities and challenges to the further development of private enterprises. Conditional industry enterprises should make full use of "two markets and two resources", participate in the international rubber recycling cycle, and seize the commanding heights of future resources. "This is also a key work for the Association next year. We are now investigating further and will make some strategic policy recommendations." ^[1]

Latest utilization progress of waste tires

A new technology gives new ways to recycle used tires. A team at OakRidge National Laboratory found that changing the microstructure of carbon black in old tires could be used as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries. This not only means that the performance of the new generation of lithium-ion batteries will be superior, but also means that we can prevent the environmental damage caused by the accumulation of used tires. The laboratory is preparing to license this technology, and looks forward to using these carbon black cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries in automotive, static storage, medical, and military applications in the future.

Waste tire recycling method

The main methods of recycling used tires are as follows:

The tyre hawker collects various used tyres at the shop where the tyre is repaired, the waste station, the driver's hands, etc. After the collection and selection, the tyres are sold to local or foreign upstream businesses as needed;

Upstream merchants (refurbishment or fire repair, or tires or cords and other processing points) after processing, the tires become usable and are sold back to the tire repair shop or driver;

Upstream businesses (waste tire processors, including: split: crushing, powdering, oil refining) sell the tires to the next level after processing;

The upper-level merchant will further process the processed products and then sell them.

Pros and cons of waste tires

Waste tires are waste rubber, and the disposal of waste rubber is one of the serious problems that people face today. In order to meet the ever-increasing material performance requirements, rubber has developed in the direction of high strength, abrasion resistance, stability and aging resistance, but at the same time caused the problem that the rubber can not be naturally degraded for a long time after waste. Pollution (white pollution) is more difficult to deal with black pollution, on the other hand, valuable rubber resources are wasted.

Millions of tons of waste rubber are produced every year around the world, and the amount is so huge that how to effectively treat it has become a problem of general concern in the whole society. For this reason, in addition to incineration of piled waste rubber products as fuel, since 1910, scientists from various countries have studied more effective waste rubber regeneration treatment technology. Recycled rubber refers to waste vulcanized rubber that undergoes physical and chemical processes such as pulverization, heating, and mechanical treatment to change it from an elastic state to a plastic and viscous rubber that can be revulcanized. The essence of the regeneration process is the combination of heat, oxygen, mechanical action, and chemical and physical action of the regenerant to destroy and degrade the vulcanizate network. There are both crosslinks and macromolecules between the crosslinks at the fracture sites. key.

Rubber regeneration methods can be broadly divided into two categories: physical regeneration and chemical regeneration.

In addition to this, there are new uses for waste tires, and "Tire Wall" treats desertification. ^[1]

Jilin citizen Cui Yuntai's invention patent "Tire Wall" is a sample of desertification control using waste tires.

"Tire Wall" uses waste tires as raw materials, punches holes around the waste tires, and uses hollow plastic pipes to make water holes. The nutrient soil is placed in the grooves in the tires. After the plants are planted in the middle of the tires, the root system will spread to all sides. A root system is formed inside the tire, and then diffuses outward from the tire's holes, and the water can be fully "locked" in the groove in the tire, which is not easy to lose, and can allow plants to fully absorb nutrients. After multiple tire walls are connected together, moisture can blend with each other, which is beneficial to the growth of plants. ^[2]

Waste tire disposal

What should I do if I change the used tires? Waste tires are waste rubbers, which generally do not decompose by themselves, and random disposal has a great impact on the environment. When your car is replaced with waste tires, please do not throw them away. Waste tires can be sold to scrap stores or to tire repair masters. A car tire is worth 5 to 10 yuan.

Don't throw away waste tires and do your part for environmental protection. ^[2]

Waste tire processing method

Fire repair: Use a machine to heat the tire that can be repaired at high temperature, add components such as steel wire and rubber, and turn the tire into a reusable tire.

Refurbishment: use the machine to cover or fully refurbish tires that can be refurbished, turning tires into reusable ones

Dividing: dismantling used tires by machine or knife

Cord fabric: peel off the surface rubber of the tire by hand or machine to obtain cord fabric

Tire products: Manually divide waste tires with machines or knives and combine them into the tire products you need

Crushing: the tires are crushed with various specifications by machines

Grinding: Use a machine to make tires into granules or powder. This method can separate the steel wire and rubber of tires with steel wires.

Oil refining: Put the tire in a sealed environment to turn the rubber into an oily state through high temperature and separate it from the steel wire ^[3]

Waste tire system

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology formulates and implements the "Access Conditions for Tire Retreading Industry" and "Access Conditions for the Comprehensive Utilization of Waste Tire Industry", which targets the establishment and layout of production enterprises, scale of production and operation, resource recycling and energy consumption, and environmental protection. Developed relevant standards and put forward requirements. This move is of great significance for regulating the development of the comprehensive utilization of waste tire industry, promoting the optimization and upgrading of enterprises, and strengthening environmental protection.

The "Access Conditions for the Tire Retreading Industry" states that, for established tire refurbishment processing enterprises, the comprehensive production capacity of the tire refurbishment for the New Year must not be lower than the 20,000 standard conversion bar. For newly built, rebuilt and expanded tire retreading and processing enterprises, the annual comprehensive production capacity shall not be less than the 30,000 standard conversion bar.

The "Access Conditions for the Comprehensive Utilization of Waste Tires" states that enterprises that have established waste tire processing and utilization facilities should have an annual comprehensive treatment capacity of waste tires not less than 10,000 tons. Newly constructed, rebuilt and expanded waste tire processing and utilization enterprises shall have an annual comprehensive processing capacity of not less than 20,000 tons.