Tyre Asia April/May 2018 87
RESEARCH TEAM: Three main members of the research group working on tyre utilization procedures: (From left)
Anna Ilnicka, PhD, Prof Jerzy P. Lukaszewicz and Bartlomiej Wasiniak MScT
raditionally,
old rubber fromtyres is subjected to
heat treatment in
a controlled mode.
Three basic products
are derived out of
it: Burnable gas,
crude oil resembling
liquid and a solid
by-product i.e. a
pyrolytic char
pollution factor, your research
will certainly have worldwide
acceptance. However, in terms
of cost-effectiveness, how does
your process fare compared to
other existing processes?
We have proposed a new look on this
problem. We decided to treat the char as a
source of precious component that is zinc.
Its weight content is ca. 1-3% in raw tyre
rubber. Our technology is covered by a
patent application. It consists of conversion
of the pyrolytic char into zinc concentrate
having ca. 40% of zinc if recalculated into
the elemental weight of the content of this
element. Its chemical form is mostly ZnO
which is useful in metallurgic industry and
other branches. In our process we co-
generated heat as a second main product.
We are able to generate revenue from this
and derive value from the zinc concentrate.
Our process eliminates zinc from tyre
recycling and removes it from environmental
circulation as well. It also generates new
products like zinc concentrate and heat.Can you explain the advantages
of transformation of pyrolytic
char into activated carbon?
I need to present my previous argument
again: Our process eliminates zinc fromthe tyre utilization process and from the
environmental circulation as well. It also
gives new products like zinc concentrate
and heat. The cost of zinc concentrate and
the heat generation are countable. The
environmental benefits are generally hard
to measure but the situation of less zinc
emission to the environment is welcomed by
everybody everywhere. The problem of zinc
polluting soils around cement plants that
burn old tyres in mass quantities is known
worldwide, including in my country Poland.
Besides polluting our living environment,
we are also losing zinc which is a limited
resource.What are the applications
where the activated carbon is
widely used?
It can be a supplement at every tyre
pyrolysis installations which is producing
mass amounts of the char. There is
no territorial limitation unless some
administrative regulations are against it. I
would recommend our technological concept
to the manufacturers of tyre pyrolysis
installations, too.Contact details: Prof Jerzy Pawel
Lukaszewicz, NCU, ICNT UMK, ul.
Wilenska 4, 87-100 Torun, Poland
(email: [email protected],
mobile: +48 605 314 300)