Development of advanced Carbon-based compounds from recycled mining tires

货物和人员的运输对世界上每一个社会的运转都是必不可少的。除海运和铁路运输外，其他所有运输方式都要求车辆装有轮胎。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，用于采矿、林业和重工业的车辆上的“非道路”（OTR）轮胎的回收利用还不可行，因为它们的尺寸大，以及它们复杂的结构和坚韧的橡胶化合物。卡尔轮胎矿业轮胎集团（KT-MTG）是一家加拿大独资公司，目前在矿山轮胎的销售、服务、维修和翻新方面处于世界领先地位。2014年，KT-MTG率先开发了一种开创性的工艺，能够回收各种形状、尺寸和成分的汽车、飞机和OTR轮胎。回收过程的产物是柴油、钢丝和炭黑（CB）。**这项NSERC-CRD拨款申请旨在资助一项为期3年的研发合作，以升级和**重新利用KT-MTG回收过程中产生的炭黑。来自英属哥伦比亚大学（UBC）和KT-MTG的研究人员发现了高价值升级的机会：1)电池阳极的碳，2)气凝胶隔热材料的纳米碳，以及3)电解阳极/电极的碳。**三种高价值产品中任何一种的成功升级和利用都会对KT-MTG回收操作产生直接的经济影响。然而，更重要的是，发展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轮胎）和加拿大就业市场（即KT-MTG计划开设10 - 15个轮胎回收中心）产生深远的好处。此外，再生炭黑的其他应用几乎是无限的，因为大量的行业依赖于获得高纯度的碳

Transportation of goods and people is essential for the function of every society world-wide. With the**exception 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 North**America 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 in**the sale, servicing, repair and re-treading of mining tires. In 2014, KT-MTG pioneered the development of a**groundbreaking process capable of recycling automotive, aircraft as well as OTR tires of all shapes, sizes and**compositions. 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 and**re-purposing of the carbon black originating from KT-MTG's recycling process. Researchers from the**University of British Columbia (UBC) and KT-MTG identified opportunities for high-value upgrading of the**raw 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.**