The 27 countries of the EU had to dispose of 3.4 million tones of tyres in 2007 alone, according to the Tyre and Rubber Manufacturer’s Association. Only 38% of those were recycled while 32% were used as fuel – substituting one problem for another in the form of emissions.

The main goal is to adapt the current industrial rubber recycling process to supply innovative recycled rubber urban furniture products manufactured by an innovative sintering process as an alternative to virgin rubber, wood or concrete products.

It is planned to industrialize and implant a new sintering process using crumb-recycled rubber as a raw material. It is necessary to optimize the complete line: grinding, mixing (and sintering processes. First, the urban product will be defined and designed. To eliminate the emotional barriers to the use of urban furniture made of recycled rubber, an eco-label will be implanted, showing the benefits of the use of this kind of recycled material.

The major project output will be urban furniture products such as bollards, jiggle bars, pavements and rubber sidewalks between others. According to the characteristics of elasticity of the used tyres, employing them to fabricate urban furniture will mean an improvement in the urban comfort. Furthermore, it is important to highlight that the proposed process will become an alternative for other market sectors such as industrial lining, automotive parts, white line appliances and recreational or sports goods between others. As a result, a new market for the crumb-recycled rubber will emerge to use it as a raw material for high-valued products, reducing also the actual dependency of petrol-derived raw materials.

Expected results:

The key outcomes of the ECO-RUBBER project are:

• An adapted and improved grinding process:
  1. To obtain the targeted particle morphology and zero contaminants
  2. To improve the morphologies synergy blends to obtain recycled rubber with enhanced properties.
• An optimized sintering process including dosing chamber and pre-heated phases.
• An Ecolabel stamp for the developed products in order to eliminate user attitude barriers to the use of urban furniture made of recycled rubber.
• The selected urban innovation that will be safe, comfortable and environmentally friendly.
• An aid the introduction of simulation programs into the design process of recycled products that enables to predict and assess the final product performance.

Duration:

01/07/2009 – 31/12/2011 (30 months)