14 Mar 2024
New line to enable in-house mechanical devulcanisation of scrap rubber produced by customers
Malmo, Sweden – Hexpol Compounding has announced plans to add new rubber devulcanisation capabilities for the recycling of scrap rubber produced by customers in Europe.
The project features installation of a devulcanisation extruder line at the company’s site in Lesina, the Czech Republic, by the end of the year, Hexpol Group's rubber compounding arm said 13 March.
The investment will enable the unit to reprocess cured rubber from post-industrial sources, explained Carsten Rueter, president of Hexpol Rubber Compounding Europe & Asia.
The reprocessed rubber will be then used for “typical rubber applications in the automotive or building and construction industry,” added Rueter.
“Instead of paying for disposal, we support our customers in transforming their rubber production offcuts into a new raw material with a reduced product carbon footprint,” he added.
Customers, continued Rueter, will be “business partners” in the process: collecting and sorting their production side-products for Hexpol to transform them into devulcanised raw materials.
As part of its service, Hexpol will adjust compound recipes based on devulcanised rubber, explained Norbert Niemand, managing director at Hexpol Lesina.
The materials will be formulated to “achieve the same performance as compounds based on standard raw materials,” said Niemand.
Hexpol expects the investment to yield “several thousand tonnes” of compounds with devulcanised rubber-content per year in Europe, adding that the process could be applied to post-consumer rubber.
The devulcanisation process, it noted, requires no additional chemicals: solely using mechanical forces and temperature to break down the crosslinks of cured rubber with the help of a "specific" extruder.
"The devulcanised material still contains the polymer, carbon black or other fillers and plasticiser of the original compound," Hexpol further explained.
This, it said, results in a raw material base for producing new rubber parts, according to Hexpol.
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