• The G3C recovered carbon black particle size distribution is more compact and shifted left (towards the smaller particle sizes/higher quality material), which makes it suitable for building tire parts (providing that other conditions are satisfied).
  • This TEM-based analysis provides a material prove that G3C process upgrades carbon black captured in tires, which was not possible to achieve for any existing technologies.
  • When scrap tires are shredded before processing all tire parts are mixed in the process input material.
  • A pyrolysis process output contains a mix of different grades that exist in different parts of the tire – it effectively constitutes a mix of different carbon blacks with very wide ranges of particle size distribution. Such wide distribution is proved to be very difficult to use for new tires making, therefore, a significant amount of virgin carbon black needs to be supplemented (less amount of virgin carbon black can be substituted).
  • In contrast, the output of G3C process has more compact particle size distribution, which makes it suitable for making specific parts of new tires.
  • The histograms below represent particle size distributions for G3CT supplied pyrolysis and G3C recovered carbon black made from the same feedstock are built by ARDL (www.ardl.com) based on Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) analysis.

Summary

New lab test result shows the carbon black produced by the G3C process possess properties better than the virgin carbon black existing in the scrap tires.  This proves that our G3C technology is much superior than the traditional pyrolysis technology in terms of the quality of the carbon black product. 

There are various grades of carbon black (high grades and low grades) used in the production of new tires (and remains in the scrap tires).  The traditional pyrolysis process recovers the carbon black from the scrap tire as it is (both high grades and low grades same as that used in new tire making), whereas our G3C process converts the carbon black (high grades and low grades) in the scrap tire into higher grades of carbon black.  This capability uniquely positions G3C on the market and provides access to new and exclusive market segments.

The Problem and the Solution

Problem: Recovered carbon black produced by all existing pyrolysis-based technologies are not well suited for building new tires due to too wide particle size distribution (i.e. too many carbon black grades are involved in making each tire part).

Solution: G3C technology is the new and only solution for the recovered carbon black problem – With its ability to upgrade the carbon black recovered from the tires, our G3C technology can make particle size distribution more compact and, thus, render it suitable for new tire making.

Explanation

  • Different tire parts tires are built using different grades of carbon black in order to achieve required performance characteristics (see carbon black grades N110, N234, N326, N330, N347, N375, N339, N660, N772 and N774 in the diagram below). Each grade has very narrow particle size distribution measured in nanometers (nm); Note: 1 micron contains 1,000 nm; 1 mm contains 1,000 microns.

News Update: March 6, 2019

Test results verified that G3C process upgrades carbon black captured in scrap tires