CRUMB RUBBER

This section discusses the manufacture, uses and markets for crumb rubber (CR). CR is to describe
shreds from scrap/waste tires that have been reduced to a particle size of 3/8-inch or less. CR comes
from two principal sources – tire buffings, a retread by-product, and ST rubber (Blumenthal 1997a).
In the general ST market, there is no significant difference between buffings and ST rubber
(Blumenthal and Serumgard 1999a, 1999b). However, it appears that the ST rubber will be the
source of most CR in the future since retreading is declining. Consequently, the focus of this section
will be on the utilization of ST as a source for crumb rubber.

Crumb Rubber Manufacturing Technologies

The finer the particles size, the higher the surface area, the cleaner the CR, and the greater the
capital investments for a production plant are general rules in CR production (Dufton 1995). This
section describes current and emerging crumb rubber manufacturing technologies. The emerging
technologies that are discussed are not currently shelf-item technology, but offer possibilities for the
future

Crumb Rubber Manufacturing Technologies:STs can be reduced to crumb rubber by:

 ambient grinding – a mechanical grinding system that operates at room temperature and
literally tears the tire material apart, or

 cryogenic processing – a freezing process where STs are frozen at very low temperatures by
liquid nitrogen, and then shattered like breaking glass (Blumenthal and Serumgard 1999b
and TNRCC 1999).

Polypropylene

- is currently one of the fastest growing polymers. Much of this growth is attributed to
polypropylene’s ability to displace conventional materials (wood, glass, metal) and other
thermoplastics at lower
cost. Polypropylene (PP) is a tough, rigid plastic and produced in a variety of molecular
weights and crystallinities.

Polypropylene is made from the polymerization of propylene gas in the presence of a catalyst
system, usually Ziegler-Natta or metallocene catalyst. Polymerization conditions (temperature,
pressure and reactant concentrations) are set by the polymer grade to be produced.

Various production processes exist with some general similarities. They are taking place either in a
gas-phase (fluidized bed or stirred reactor) or a liquid-phase process (slurry or solution). An example
of flow diagram corresponding to each of the two types of processes is illustrated in figure 1 bellow.
The gas-phase polymerization is economical and flexible and can accommodate a large variety of
catalysts. It is the most common technology in modern polypropylene production plants. Relevant
technologies are Novolen®, Unipol® (gas-phase processes), Borstar® and Spheripol® (liquid-phase
processes).

https://guichon-valves.com/faqs/pp-polypropylene-manufacturing-process-of-pp-polypropylene/
Costing:

Description Quantity Unit Unit Cost Amount

Scrap tires 1 pc 350 350
Laboratory Fee:
- Manufacturing
process of PP 1200
(Polypropylene)

- Using ambient 1000

grinding machine
Labor 500

The expected estimated cost of this study is ranging from ……