Development of advanced Carbon-based compounds from recycled mining tires

货物和人员的运输对全世界每个社会的功能都是必不可少的。除海运和铁路运输外，所有其他运输方式都需要车辆有轮胎。因此，据估计，仅在北美和欧洲就产生了近500万吨废旧汽车轮胎。汽车轮胎的回收利用现在是可能的。遗憾的是，到目前为止，回收用于采矿、林业和重工业车辆的“越野”轮胎是不可行的，因为它们的尺寸很大，而且其复杂的结构和坚韧的橡胶化合物。卡尔轮胎矿业集团(KT-MTG)是一家全资拥有的加拿大公司，目前在矿用轮胎的销售、保养、维修和重新踏面方面处于世界领先地位。2014年，KT-MTG率先开发了能够回收各种形状、尺寸和成分的汽车、飞机和工程机械轮胎的破碎机工艺。回收过程的结果是柴油、钢丝和碳黑(CB)。这项NSERC-CRD赠款申请旨在支持一个为期3年的研发合作，以升级和重新利用KT-MTG回收过程中产生的碳黑。来自不列颠哥伦比亚大学(UBC)和KT-MTG的研究人员确定了将炭黑的高价值升级为：1)电池阳极用碳，2)气凝胶隔热材料用纳米结构碳，以及3)电解阳极/电极用碳的机会。三种高价值产品中任何一种的CB成功升级和利用，都会对KT-MTG回收业务产生直接的经济影响。然而，更重要的是，开发再生炭黑的创新工艺和市场将对环境(即在世界各地的矿山回收储存或燃烧的工程机械轮胎)和加拿大就业市场(即KT-MTG计划开设10-15个工程机械轮胎回收中心)带来深远的好处。此外，由于大量的工业依赖于获得高纯度的碳，回收碳黑的其他应用几乎是无限的。

Transportation of goods and people is essential for the function of every society world-wide. With theexception of marine and rail transport, every other mode of transport requires vehicles to have tires.Consequently, it is estimated that nearly 5 million tonnes of waste automotive tires are produced in NorthAmerica and Europe alone. Recycling of automotive tires is now possible. Regrettably, recycling of"off-the-road" (OTR) tires used on vehicles in the mining, forestry and heavy industries until now has not been feasible, due to their large size, as well as their sophisticated construction and tough rubber compounds. Kal Tire Mining Tire Group (KT-MTG), a wholly-owned Canadian company, is currently the world leader inthe sale, servicing, repair and re-treading of mining tires. In 2014, KT-MTG pioneered the development of agroundbreaking process capable of recycling automotive, aircraft as well as OTR tires of all shapes, sizes andcompositions. The outcome of the recycling process is diesel fuel, steel wire and carbon black (CB).This NSERC-CRD grant application seeks funding to support a 3-year R&D collaboration on upgrading andre-purposing of the carbon black originating from KT-MTG's recycling process. Researchers from theUniversity of British Columbia (UBC) and KT-MTG identified opportunities for high-value upgrading of theraw CB into: 1) Carbon for battery anodes, 2) Nanostructured Carbon for aerogel thermal insulators, and 3)Carbon for electrolysis anodes / electrodes. Successful upgrading of CB and utilization in any of the three high-value products has an immediate economic impact on the KT-MTG recycling operation. More importantly, however, developing innovative processes and markets for the recycled carbon black will have profound benefits for the environment (i.e., recycling of stockpiled or burned OTR tires at mines world-wide) and the Canadian job market (i.e., KT-MTG is planning to open 10 - 15 OTR tire recycling centres). Further, additional applications of the recycled carbon black are virtually limitless, due to the abundance of industries relying on access to high-purity Carbon.