Vehicle tires are recyclable and the various components can be separated and reclaimed for resale. Tire Recycling, referred to as Tire Pyrolysis, has become an eco-friendly method to reclaim raw materials from used or damaged tires while reducing the burden on landfills. 

Carbon Black is a major component in most tires, consisting of up to thirty percent of the tire construction.  It adds strength, abrasion resistance and UV protection. Carbon Black is traditionally produced through the combustion of hydrocarbons like oil.  As fuel prices and demand for carbon black increases, tire producers search for alterative sources of “green” carbon black.

Pyrolysis is a process that begins with shredding old tires to extract most of the steel and fiber. The chips are then heated in an atmosphere-controlled vessel where gases are released and can be collected to be used as fuel. The solid material remaining has a high concentration of carbon black. It is then screened and run through magnets to remove any remaining fiber and steel. 

At this point the material is of little value, full of agglomerates and grit. Additional milling is required to produce high quality material of commercial value.

Hosokawa offers various mills specially suited for the abrasive characteristics of carbon black capability of producing a range of product particle sizes for pilot to large scale operations.

Mikro-ACM® Air Classifying Mill
• Grinds & Classifies to d90 = 20 ?m
• External coarse recycling
• Available in sizes from 1 to 600 HP

Alpine® AS Spiral Jet Mill
• Simple design with no moving parts
• Particle on Particle Milling to d90 = 15 ?m
• Available in sizes with up to 36″diameter chamber

Alpine® Fluidized Bed Jet Mill
• Particle on Particle Milling to d90 = 2 ?m
• Energy Efficient design
• Internal Classification for tight particle size distribution

Once processed through a Hosokawa system, the carbon black can be sold for various applications, most notably for tire production.