The TyGRe Project

TyGRe is now one year old.

After nearly one year from the starting date of TyGRe, 1 September 2009, the Second project meeting was held on 25 – 26 October 2010.

The meeting was hosted by RWTH (Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen -  Germany) in Aachen, Germany, and all the partners were well represented.

An internal technical review of the experimental activities was conducted during this meeting and each WP leader presented the work developed during the first year of the project.

After the introduction of Dr. Galvagno, the project coordinator, who gave an overview on the state of the project, detailed presentations on the main aspects of the project were made: The final results of the thermal treatments tests by ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development - Italy) and TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey - Turkey) were presented to the partnership.

Silicon Carbide powder waste tyre derived was obatined by IMEC (Institute of Materials and Environmental Chemistry – Hungary). The powder was sintered into test samples manuafctured by COMETAS (Copenhagen Membrane Technology A/S - Denmark) demostrating that TyGRe SiC can be used for industrial purposes.

The life-cycle based sustainability assessment (LCA, SLCA/SLCC) of the TyGRe system compared to a reference system is in progress. At present a preliminary analysis of the systems, including goal and scope definition and model description of the innovative system, has been produced by Febe (FEBE ECOLOGIC - Italy)  and ENEA.

The whole prototypal plant flow-sheet has been defined. The plant which will be hosted at ENEA site in Italy comprises several process modules. Enough time was dedicated to present first module technical specification.

The project officer contribution enriched the discussion by focusing the attention on important remarks and technical aspects.

Concerning the dissemination, several actions have been started and realized: project results have been presented to International Congresses, TyGRe project was presented in events directed to tyre recyclers. A new ETRA website is under construction, which will be linked to the TyGRe and partner websites. A brochure on TyGRe's new material is in preparation. Other Seminars, meetings and participation to conferences are planned and will be published on TyGRe website.

At the end of the meeting, a new appointment was fixed (third project meeting) .

TyGRe Project presented at ECOMONDO

ECOMONDO is one of the most important international trade fairs on sustainable development, material and energy recovery in Europe. In 2009 alone, reports show that over 63,330 attendees visited 1,050 exhibitors. More than 11,000 participants attended 213 seminars on a variety of environmental and recycling topics, which brought together over 1,350 speakers and 443 journalists from national and foreign media.

On November 4th 2010, during the 14th annual ECOMONDO, a Round Table on Tyre Recycling was organised with a prestigious list of speakers. Dott. Edo Ronchi, former Minister of the Environment, and Dott. Giancarlo Longhi, former Director of CONAI, headed the list, with more representative speakers talking about the specifics of the sector. The main issues about tyre recycling were discussed.

At the moment, there is a wide debate in the sector due to the impact of the introduction of the producer responsibility in Europe. In some countries, this could establish bodies to manage the post consumer tyres, with a specific goal of a specified quantity to be recycled, and the engagement to valorise the output material obtained from recycling. This is the main condition to make the system efficient and allow in the future the reduction of the eco-tax paid by the consumer.

In this context the TyGRe project represents an important example to the auditors, as well as to the esteemed speakers of the round table. The project coordiantor, Dr. Galvagno, gave an extremely effective picture of TyGRe and of the progress already achieved, which became one of the main interesting topics of the meeting. As per the comments after the session, this project has impressed the participants for its original idea: the combination of two input materials, i.e., the rubber from tyres which provides the carbon, and a low cost silica source, as well the high value of the new material obtained: Silicon Carbide.

The round table was organised by ARGO (Italian National Association for Rubber Recycling – Italy), the Italian member of ETRA the European Tyre Recycling Association, who is also one of the partners of the project.

For more information on TyGRe, please visit TyGRe website.