ReMould

Research into the Development of a Novel, Scalable, Industrial Process for the Continuous Production of High Quality Re-Processable Rubber Compounds

ReMould builds upon the work of the TSB funded DevulCO2 project which successfully developed a continuous devulcanisation system for the production of devulcanised rubber from waste tyres. ReMould will increase the market available to this process by transferring the technology to other waste rubber products (e.g. EPDM automotive weatherstrip) and so expand the range of goods that can be manufactured from the devulcanised rubber.

Other principal aims of the project are to:

• Develop the devulcanised tyre rubber for the re-treading of passenger and truck tyres.
• Improve processibility to enable extruded rubber profile to be produced.
• Successfully scale up the process via the acquisition of large-scale process equipment.

ReMould will enable rubber recyclers to increase the value of recycled rubber and provide the opportunity to enter many key rubber sectors for the manufacture of high value end products. In addition, the process will provide signifi cant economic benefi ts to rubber compounders and moulders, whilst contributing to the environment by minimising tyre waste.

Organisational Information

Budget: £980k
Funding: £490k
Start Date: October 2009
Finish Date: September 2011
Duration (in months): 24
Lead Partner (Co-ordinator): Smithers Rapra, UK

Participants

Results – What happened next?

At the time of writing, ReMould is still in its fi rst 12 months, but the project has achieved the following:

• The building and equipping of a purpose built, dedicated research/processing unit for the project
• The acquisition and trialling of a 65mm twin screw extruder to scale up the production of the DevulCO2 technology
• Good progress towards the successful transfer of the DevulCO2 technology to waste EPDM rubber
• The manufacture of re-tread tyres containing 25% of DevulCO2 rubber in the tread compound capable of passing the ECE Regulation 108 retread tyre test

In addition, good progress is being made towards achieving the following:

• Transfer of the DevulCO2 technology to other high tonnage, sulphur-cured rubbers such as Nitrile rubber
• Modification to the DevulCO2 technology to improve the processibility of the devulcanised rubber

Project website: http://www.remould.org.uk/