Waste tire disposal and recycling
AssigneeSouthwestern Laboratories, Inc.
InventorDavid F. Martinez
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for recycling a used tire constructed of rubber and other materials that does not devulcanize the rubber, comprising the steps of soaking the tire in a composition comprising an organic solvent for a time sufficient to reduce the tensile strength of the rubber by at least about 50%, applying sufficient shear forces to the soaked tire to disintegrate the rubber from the other materials, and sorting the disintegrated rubber from the other materials.
Claims10
A method for recycling a used tire comprising natural or synthetic vulcanized rubber reinforced with reinforcing fiber that does not devulcanize the rubber, said method comprising the steps of:
- soaking the tire in a composition comprising an organic solvent for a time sufficient to swell the vulcanized rubber and reduce the tensile strength of the vulcanized rubber by at least about 50%;
- applying a force to the soaked tire to disintegrate the vulcanized rubber from the reinforcing fiber;
- and
- sorting the disintegrated vulcanized rubber from the reinforcing fiber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.