The safe disposal and reuse of industrial and consumer rubber waste continues to pose a serious threat to environmental safety and health, despite the fact that the technology now exits for its effective recycling and reuse. Mountains of used tires confirm the belief that chemically crosslinked rubber is one of the most difficult materials to recycle. That coupled with a long history of failed attempts to create quality products from crumb rubber has resulted in such a resistance to new ideas concerning rubber recycling that very little literature on the subject has even seen the light of day.
Rubber Recycling is one of those rare books that has the potential to directly impact our ecological well-being. The editors of this important volume have filled a void in technological responsibility by bringing together a group of international experts who, using substantial research evidence, prove that the utilization of recycled rubber is not just desirable, but is also quite feasible and profitable.
This text provides a thorough overview of the fundamentals of rubber and the challenges of recycling. However, the heart of the book lies in its detailed explanation of the various processes currently available to breakdown, recycle, and reuse crosslinked rubber. These include --
Manufacturing Practices for the Development of Crumb Rubber Materials from Whole Tires Michael W. Rouse
Quality Performance Factors for Tire-Derived Materials Michael W. Rouse
Untreated and Treated Rubber Powder Wilma Dierkes
Tire Rubber Recycling by Mechanochemical Processing Klementina Khait
Recycling Cross-Linked Networks via High-Pressure, High-Temperature Sintering Richard J. Farris, Drew E. Williams, and Amiya R. Tripathy
Powdered Rubber Waste in Rubber Compounds Ceni Jacob and S.K. De
Rubber Recycling by Blending with Plastics D. Mangaraj
Strategies for Reuse of Rubber Tires D. Raghavan
Ultrasonic Devulcanization of Used Tires and Waste Rubbers A.I. Isayev and Sayata Ghose
Devulcanization by Chemical and Thermomechanical Means Marvin Myhre
Conversion of Used Tires to Carbon Black and Oil by Pyrolysis C. Roy, A. Chaala, H. Darmstadt, B. de Caumia, H. Pakdel, and J. Yang
Markets for Scrap Tires and Recycled Rubber Tjaart P. Venter
Index
"...Addresses one of our most important environmental problems...it's a pleasure to recommend [this book] to anyone interested in practical aspects of elastomeric materials."
- J.E. Mark, Polymer Research Center, University of Cincinnati, in Polymer News
"…useful…recommended to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as chemists and engineers."
-Polymer News
". . . timely and should help facilitate the necessary economic and industrial evolution . . . it constitutes a quite informative read and could be recommended to those who are interested in learning about rubber recycling."
– J.B. Donnet, Professor Emeritus, University of Haute Alsace, in Materials World, June 2007, Vol. 15, No. 7