Method for processing rubber composite materials

Abstract

The present application relates to a method for processing a rubber composite material, particularly a rubber composite material comprising vulcanized rubber polymers and a filler material, wherein the method comprises the steps of contacting the rubber composite material with a suitable solvent, thereby obtaining solvent swollen rubber composite material; contacting the solvent swollen rubber composite material with ozone, thereby obtaining solubilized reaction products in the solvent and a solid residue; separating the solubilized reaction products from the solid residue; followed by working up the solubilized reaction products with a suitable chemical agent such as water or an organic base to obtain bifunctional oxygen-containing compounds, and, advantageously, recovering the filler material from the solid residue.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.