{"id":156637,"date":"2023-03-28T16:13:08","date_gmt":"2023-03-28T16:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/?p=156637"},"modified":"2024-12-13T11:32:51","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T17:32:51","slug":"recycle-tires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/tech\/recycle-tires\/","title":{"rendered":"Recycling tires and capture CO2: projects for a sustainable future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

According to researcher Cecilia Trevi\u00f1o Quintanilla<\/strong>, plastic is the most perfect material. However, she says the problem is that this material is being used in the wrong way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople hear the word plastic, and it scares them<\/strong>. We\u2019ve demonized it. But plastic isn\u2019t the enemy\u201d, explains who is a researcher at the Institute of Advanced Materials for Sustainable Manufacturing<\/a><\/strong> of Tecnol\u00f3gico de Monterrey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a perfect material because it\u2019s very cheap, with good mechanical properties, and is easy to process. But mankind\u2019s biggest mistake was using a material that lasts millions of years for disposable purposes. It\u2019s ridiculous,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The polymer specialist is working on a project to recycle rubber \u2013 a material that still cannot be used again once its useful life ends \u2013 which is part of the three projects that Tec de Monterrey is working on together with the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI).<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the biggest problems is tires and rubber. They are single molecules because they have so many bonds that the rubber can\u2019t be recycled<\/strong>. For example, when tires are discarded, they\u2019re used to make cement or burned as fuel,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The possibility of recycling tires<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about turning plastic into our friend\u201d, says Trevi\u00f1o.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project involves degrading rubber with a new catalyst made from ruthenium<\/strong>, which only requires raising the temperature to 40 degrees Celsius. The resulting product is expected to produce lubricants or a more sustainable type of rubber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPolymers are like chains. The difference in this process, called metathesis, is that it\u2019s done at low temperatures, ambient pressure, and in nitrogen. In this process, you can choose the size into which you\u2019re going to divide the molecule, thus creating polyols\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not only to degrade the rubber but to degrade it to a desired size. They can be used for lubricants, or you can create other bio-based rubber, which is sustainable,\u201d she explains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the research objectives is to carry out this process with rubber and then use it on vulcanized tires. Perhaps in the future create a factory in which tons of rubber and tires can arrive for recycling<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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