Devulcanization of cured rubber
AssigneeThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
InventorsDavid Andrew Benko, Roger Neil Beers, Sunggyu Lee, Kelly Lee Clark
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Abstract
The present invention discloses a process for devulcanizing cured rubber into devulcanized rubber that is capable of being recompounded and recured into useful rubber products, said process comprising heating the cured rubber to a temperature which is within the range of about 150° C. to about 300° C. under a pressure of at least about 3.4×106 Pascals in the presence of a mixture of carbon dioxide and 2-butanol.
Claims20
A process for devulcanizing cured rubber into devulcanized rubber that is capable of being recompounded and recured into useful rubber products, said process comprising heating the cured rubber to a temperature which is within the range of about 150° C. to about 300° C. under a pressure of at least about 3.4×106 Pascals in the presence of a mixture of carbon dioxide and 2-butanol.
A process for devulcanizing the surface of reclaimed rubber crumb into surface devulcanized reclaimed rubber crumb that is suitable for being recompounded and recured into high performance rubber products, said process comprising the steps of (1) heating the reclaimed rubber crumb to a temperature which is within the range of about 150° C. to about 300° C. under a pressure of at least about 3.4×106 Pascals in the presence of a mixture of 2-butanol and carbon dioxide to devulcanize the surface of the rubber crumb thereby producing a slurry of the surface devulcanized reclaimed rubber crumb in the mixture of 2-butanol and carbon dioxide, wherein the reclaimed rubber crumb has a particle size which is within the range of about 325 mesh to about 20 mesh, and (2) separating the surface devulcanized reclaimed rubber crumb from the mixture of 2-butanol and carbon dioxide.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.