As you may know, we have created a world-first tyre recycling process to turn end-of-life car tyres into oil, carbon and steel.
Most people readily see the use of oil and steel. But what about the carbon?
Find out the many varied, and at times surprising uses of recycled carbon.
Our Chief Operating Officer Trevor Bayley tells us that each typical old 10 kg car tyre we process will yield 4 litres of oil, 4kg of carbon, 2kg of steel and 4kg of carbon. A 70kg truck tyre yields 27 litres of oil, 15 kg of steel and 28 kg of carbon.
On the large end of the scale, a 4 tonne oversize dump truck tyre will provide a whopping 1.6 tonnes of carbon, 0.8 tonnes of steel and 1500 litres of oil.
With the potential volumes of carbon like that it’s good to know that carbon is so much in demand around the world as a key component in so many products.
GDT carbon has potential for wide use in many products, including cosmetics
The tyre recycling process developed by us produces carbon in the form of carbon black.
This is one of the world’s most widely used ingredients in many products.
Uses are many and varied, including the following:
- tyres
- plastics
- paints
- water filtration
- printers ink
- electrodes
- graphene
- toothpaste
- cosmetics including eyeliner, mascara, nail polish, eye shadow, blushes, rouge and lipstick
Most carbon is usually derived from heavy crude oil which is burnt to produce the fine black powder, but tyre recycling now has developed an alternative.
“We recently joined the prestigious International Society of Testing Materials and are working to set a world standard for carbon from recycled sources so that manufacturers that use carbon can specify the grade and properties they need for their products,” Trevor said.