The present invention refers to a process which allows producing rubber granules deriving from End of Life Tires (ELT) suitable for the devulcanization process through a thermal- mechanical reactor.

As is well known, today's economic and environmental pressures have introduced a change in the way society and industry look at the plastic materials used in various fields and in production. Depending on the requirements of certain items and their applications, manufacturers and end users now have a wide range of materials at their disposal from which to make a careful choice, based on price/performance ratio and environmental credentials (for example, the content of recycled material).

With these perspectives, processes have been developed for the reuse of secondary raw materials or recycled materials that can be used for the manufacture of products with less sophisticated specifications, for which price has priority. These secondary raw materials can be, for example, "End of Life Tires" (ELT).

Therefore, object of the present invention is solving the aforementioned prior art problems by providing a process capable of producing rubber granules of the correct size (granulometry), purified from any polluting element (such as, for example, metals and textile or plastic fibers), preserving the qualities of the original blend and thus preventing the degradation of the polymeric components and other components, such as carbon black and the oils present.

Another object of the present invention is providing a process for the production of rubber granules from ELTs which is suitable for a devulcanization process through a mechanical thermal reaction process, in order to guarantee the qualitative constancy and the suitable chemical- physical characteristics, and suitable for obtaining a product that can be used in the technical rubber industry.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, which will appear from the following description, are obtained with a process as claimed in claim 1. Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variants of the present invention are the subject of the dependent claims.

It is understood that all enclosed claims form an integral part of the present description.

It will be immediately obvious that numerous variations and modifications (for example related to shape, sizes, arrangements and parts with equivalent functionality) can be made to what has been described without departing from the scope of the invention as included in the attached claims.

The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments thereof, provided as a non-limiting example.

As will be seen in greater detail below, granules will be produced by the process according to the present invention from ELTs of different use, and preferably from truck and/or car and/or light transport vehicle tires, as well as from tires of earth-moving machines and/or agricultural vehicles (agricultural tractors).

In particular: truck ELTs have the general characteristic of a highly prevalent polymer composition of the elastomer based on NR (natural rubber) and little prevalence of SBR (synthetic rubber based on styrene butadiene): they also require the presence of metals with the prevalence of harmonic steel as a load-bearing and reinforcement structure;

- the ELTs of earth-moving machinery and/or agricultural vehicles have, as a general characteristic, a polymer composition of the elastomer based on SBR (synthetic rubber based on styrene butadiene) and little prevalence of NR (natural rubber); they also provide for the presence of metals with the prevalence of harmonic steel as a load-bearing and reinforcing structure and the strong presence of textile fibers in the internal bands and of plastic fibers such as polyester in the tread part;

- ELTs of cars and light transport vehicles have, as a general feature, a polymer composition of the elastomer based on SBR (synthetic rubber based on styrene butadiene) and little prevalence of NR (natural rubber); they also provide for the presence of metals with the prevalence of harmonic steel as a load-bearing and reinforcing structure and the strong presence of textile fibers in the internal bands.

Obviously, the different types of tires indicated above, in addition to differing in their uses, are distinguished by construction engineering and different types of elastomers, as well as by load-bearing and reinforcing structures, such as metals and textile and plastic fibers; precisely, these characteristics require the implementation of the process according to the present invention by means of different processes with as many specific equipment and treatments.

The process according to the present invention therefore comprises the following steps:

- selection of the ELTs to be treated: in particular, this selection step consists in the selection of tires that do not show excessive oxidation and do not show the phenomenon of saponification and evident deterioration; in this step, old production tires must also be discarded where there is a doubt about the presence of aromatic amines. This selection step takes place, for example, through the visual control of an operator who, in addition to verifying the conditions described above, will determine the production date by reading the DOT code (code indicating the week and year of production) shown on the side of the carcass of the tire itself. In addition, tires of poor quality, produced by manufacturers known for their low selling price on the market, will also be rejected;

- coarse crushing of the tire to make a shredded ELT: in particular, this coarse crushing step is carried out through a mechanical process which reduces the tire into coarse pieces, preferably with a size varying between 10 and 20 cm. At this stage we still have the presence of metal which will be totally eliminated in the next steps;

- volumetric reduction of the shredded ELT for the production of raw rubber granules: preferably, this step takes place by means of at least one mechanical granulator, which, through the passage of rollers equipped with blades, determines the volumetric reduction and allows the separation from metals and any fibers textiles and/or plastics, as they are crushed and separated from the rough rubber granules. In order for polymer degradation not to occur, this mechanical granulator must be refrigerated, as the mechanical shredding process generates an uncontrollable temperature rise due to the friction between the rubber and the shredding rollers: in particular, this temperature must never exceed 40 °C as it would deteriorate the NR-based polymeric component, with consequent unsuitability of the product;

- substantially total elimination of the metals from these raw rubber granules: once the raw rubber granules from the previous step have been obtained, this step provides that they are preferably passed through one or more stations (preferably three) for the capture of the metals through special machines equipped with magnets that capture both the slag of the free metals and the granules that still contain some metal, thus guaranteeing the almost total remediation of metals;

- elimination of any textile and/or plastic fibers from these raw rubber granules: since there is the remote possibility of the presence of any textile or plastic fibers, this step provides that the granules are passed, preferably, in at least one wadding tower, which works through an electrostatic process, i.e. it captures any fibers present in the flow of the granules obtained up to now; selection of the rubber granules based on the size: to obtain the desired quality of the rubber granules, it is therefore necessary that they are selected by size: preferably, this step takes place by passing the rubber granules in metal sieves combined with a machine vibrator that allows the passage of only the granules of the required size: the purpose of this operation is absolutely necessary since the presence of smaller granulometries (for example dust with a size of 0.8 mm), which naturally are generated through the shredding process, would compromise the performance of the obtained granules;

- curing of rubber granules: this step is necessary because even if all the necessary precautions are used, the ELTs have inevitably been subjected to mechanical stress and, albeit in a rough way, the various mechanical processes and the following steps have broken some bonds and electrostatically charged the granules which are therefore not yet fully suitable for the devulcanization process: this step is therefore preferably performed by arranging the rubber grains in special containers placed in a closed warehouse, preferably at a constant temperature of about 20 C, with forced aeration and washing of the air through a column that acts with sodium hypochlorite and soda, preferably for a period of at least 45 days, to obtain a suitable maturation of the granules themselves.

At this point, the rubber granules produced by the above steps of the process according to the present invention are suitable for the devulcanization process. The process according to the present invention, in the case in which the ELTs derive from trucks, agricultural vehicles and/or earth- moving machines, also includes the bead breaking step of the tire: the bead breaking step is then performed through a special machine called "bead breaking machine" which through a mechanical process separates the ring made of harmonic steel from the tire, in the area called "bead", which comes into contact with the rim. Note that this bead breaking step is not necessary if the ELTs derive from cars and/or light transport vehicles as the sealing ring present in this type of tire, even if made of steel, does not create substantial problems in the process according to the present invention. The process according to the present invention, in the case in which the ELTs derive from agricultural vehicles and/or earth-moving machines, also comprises a further step of eliminating plastic fibers from the raw rubber granules: this further step is necessary since the fibers plastics such as polyester are not completely eliminated from the previous step of elimination of plastic fibers by means of the electrostatic padding process and, consequently, this step can be performed by means of a special machine designed for this function, which provides for example the passage on a conveyor belt which, through eddy currents and the identification of the specific weight, successfully separates this last pollutant constituted by the residual plastic fibers.

In particular:

- in the event that the ELTs derive from trucks, the rough rubber granules made in the step of volumetric reduction of the shredded ELTs have a size preferably between 2.5 and 4 mm;

- in the event that the ELTs derive from agricultural vehicles and/or earth-moving machines, the rough rubber granules made in the volumetric reduction step of the shredded ELT have a size between 4 and 5 mm;

- in the event that the ELTs derive from cars and/or vehicles for light transport, the rough rubber granules made in said step of volumetric reduction of the shredded ELTs have a size between 2.5 and 3.5 mm.

A further treatment step, common to all granulates from PFU (of any origin) consists in separating the granules, due to their chemical nature, namely, as described above, any tire is composed of different parts (flanks, reinforcing bands, beads, threads, etc.) and each one of them has a different chemical composition, so that a natural rubber could prevail, instead of a synthesis rubber and vice versa; a heterogeneous mixture of "mixed" granules would provide several problems to the devulcanization process, since it would be impossible to manage the reactor parameters depending on the different chemical compositions.

From this, the ideal inventive solution consists in a separation of the granules through a system of very sensible vibrating densimetric tables, and with the help of aimed air jets, also called eddy currents, which separate the granules based on their mean specific weight. Granules with a high amount of natural rubber have a specific weight of about 0.93, while synthetic rubbers have a specific weight greater than 0.96: this difference allows obtaining a sorting process (with at least 3 passes) equal to 90%.

With this last and laborious process, it is possible to obtain a granule from PFU lacking pollutants made of metals and textile or plastic fibers, but above all separated due to its chemical nature, which allows obtaining a high-quality devulcanized product, absolutely re-usable in the technical rubber industry. The process according to the present invention as described above therefore allows to achieve the intended purposes: in particular, this process is the result of countless tests and attempts, supported by laboratory tests such as infrared analyzes on germanium and TGA crystals, which can certify the degradation index of the polymer and of the other fillers and components present in the ELTs; moreover, the devulcanization tests through a mechanical thermal reactor have given excellent results that make the specially treated granule able to obtain a mixture of elastomers, Carbon

Black and other ingredients suitable for being used in the technical rubber industry with success, giving real impulse to the circular economy that finally makes it possible to reuse what was previously a mere waste in material comparable to virgin.