Devulcanisation and reclaiming of tires and rubber by physical and chemical processes: A review

Since their creation, tires have been constantly improved to fulfil the numerous applications they have been employed in. Although tires consisted of simple rubber bands in the late 20th century, nowadays tires are a highly more complex piece of technology. Due to this more complex structure induced by the presence of other components (like metals and textiles) and a wide variety of polymers used in tire manufacturing, recycling and reclaiming processes are constantly more difficult. Taking into account the global tire demand as well as the amount of rubber involved and their end-of-life fate is mandatory for a sustainable development. The aim of this review is to present and explore physical and chemical processes that are employed in order to recycle tire and reclaim rubber. Well settled techniques such as mechanical, thermo-mechanical, cryo-mechanical grinding and sulfide processes are presented as well as more sustainable technologies such as ionic liquid, eutectic solvents and microwave and catalysis. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.