Zeppelin Systems entered into another important partnership in the mechanical recycling sector on February 7, 2023.
The Italian Technology group formed by RubberJet and Vertech specialise in recycling particularly large scrap tyres, for example from trucks and construction and mining machinery. High quality rubber recyclates can be made from scrap tyres measuring up to four metres in size, which can later be used to manufacture new tyres.
According to current figures from the AZuR network (innovation forum for scrap tire recycling, of which Zeppelin Systems is a member), around 3.5 million tons of scrap tyres are generated in Europe each year. If every scrap tire in Europe was recycled, around 2.45 million tons of CO2 emissions would be saved. “This potential must be tapped not only in terms of a sustainable circular economy. As an industrial company, we have a responsibility to make value chains more sustainable overall on a large scale in order to conserve the resources of our planet,” says Markus Vöge, CEO of Zeppelin Systems GmbH. In line with this, the Friedrichshafen-based plant engineering company developed a revolutionary, sustainable process for the mechanical recycling of scrap tires in cooperation with international project partners from a wide range of industries. Recycled rubber granulate is thus given a second life.
Rubber Jet Recycles OTR Tyres
In the patented and proprietary process developed by RubberJet Group and Vertech, primarily off-the-road tyres are broken down into individual parts by a high-pressure water jet process using a patented and proprietary 100 per cent environmentally friendly method. Rubber and steel are separated by the water jet technology. The rubber powder and granulate obtained can be marketed directly as recycled material. By their very nature, the high natural rubber content of rubber used in large tyre compounds ensures that the recyclates obtained are of particularly high quality. In addition, the recycling process gives the recycled materials an especially large surface structure. This is essential for renewed interlacing, such that the recycled material can be vulcanised again within the new tyre compounds or generally the new rubber compounds.
RubberJet Group has been on the market since 2016, and the Italian company invested over six years developing the patented and proprietary waterjet technology. “With High Pressure Water Jet Technology, large tyres can be economically and resource-efficiently recycled into a high-purity and surface-activated rubber flour that can be directly reused in a rubber compound,” explains Guido Veit, Vice President Sales for Polyolefins, Rubber and Silos at Zeppelin Systems GmbH. By giving tyres a second life, we are making more sustainable use of resources and thus significantly contributing to a sustainable circular economy. This is what the strategic cooperation and partnership between Zeppelin Systems, RubberJet Group and Vertech achieves.