Sustainable manufacturing of circular economy elastomer products

橡胶制品的可持续性是一项重大的全球性挑战，主要是因为每年产生大量的橡胶废物。此外，许多弹性体产品，包括大多数汽车轮胎，都是由化石燃料材料制造的，这是不可再生的。这个拟议的研究项目旨在通过利用可再生生物基原料制造新型循环经济弹性体产品来解决这些挑战，这些产品零浪费，资源效率高，不依赖化石燃料，从而改变弹性体领域。将生产两种弹性体产品，用于各种用途，即自修复天然橡胶产品，在损坏后可反复自我修复，并在使用寿命结束后可重复使用、再加工和回收；生物基热塑性弹性体产品，由于其热塑性性质，可以再加工和回收。将制备和表征新的弹性体，随后进行工艺优化，使用最佳弹性体和弹性体复合材料以及制造工艺对代表性弹性体产品进行制造和评估。随后，将评估新弹性体产品的自我修复、再利用、再加工和再循环行为。最后，评估产品生命周期的能耗和碳排放、产品成本以及新产品对整个供应链的影响。一个由橡胶和聚合物科学家和制造工程师组成的跨学科小组以及一名管理科学家将共同致力于该方案，采用从材料设计和合成到产品制造以及最后自我修复、再利用和再循环的整体方法。在该计划结束时，创新的生物基循环经济弹性体产品将被可持续地制造出来，其基础科学和更广泛的影响将得到理解。从本研究中获得的可持续材料、制造技术和科学认识可以在未来扩展到其他弹性体产品，确保弹性体产品和工业的长期可持续发展。

The sustainability of rubber products is a major global challenge mainly due to the huge amount of rubber waste generated each year. Furthermore, many elastomer products including most car tyres are manufactured from fossil fuel-based materials, which are not renewable. This proposed research programme aims to tackle these challenges by manufacturing novel circular economy elastomer products from renewable biobased feedstocks, with zero waste, high resource efficiency and no reliance on fossil fuels, thus transforming the elastomer field. Two types of elastomer products will be manufactured for various applications, namely self-healing natural rubber products which can self-repair repeatedly after damage, and be reused, reprocessed and recycled after their end of life; and biobased thermoplastic elastomer products which can be reprocessed and recycled due to their thermoplastic nature. The new elastomers will be prepared and characterised, followed by the process optimisation, manufacture and evaluation of representative elastomer products using the optimal elastomers and elastomer composites as well as manufacturing processes. Subsequently, the self-repair, reuse, reprocessing and recycling behaviour of the new elastomer products will be assessed. Finally, the energy consumption and carbon emissions of the product lifecycle, product costs and the impact of the new products on the whole supply chain will be assessed. An interdisciplinary team of rubber and polymer scientists and manufacturing engineers, as well as a management scientist, will work on the programme together employing a holistic approach ranging from material design and synthesis, through to product manufacturing and finally self-repair, reuse and recycling. At the end of the programme, innovative biobased circular economy elastomer products will have been sustainably manufactured with their fundamental science and broader impact understood. The sustainable materials, manufacturing technologies, and the scientific understanding obtained from this research can be extended to other elastomer products in the future, ensuring the long-lasting sustainability of elastomer products and industry.