VERONA, Italy—Rubber Conversion S.R.L., a recycled rubber products supplier in northern Italy, has been honored by the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security for its Life Green Vulcan Project.
The ministry division selected Rubber Conversion's project as its project of the month.
Rubber Conversion's process uses devulcanization of end-of-life tires (breaking the sulfur bonds but keeping the mechanical properties) to produce masterbatches of natural rubber and SBR.
Rubber Conversion's methods have applications in spring pads and PCR tread.
"We are very pleased and honored to share with you these revolutionary achievements within our Life Green Vulcan (project), which enables the use of high-quality recycled rubber for industrial applications with high technical content," said Cveta Majtanovic, chief sustainability officer for Rubber Conversion. "Together with our project partners, namely Bridgestone, Stellantis, Fiat Research Center, the University of Trento and thanks to the patented technology of Rubber Conversion, it was possible to produce circular and sustainable material capable of replacing (some) natural rubber."
The project also boasts a potential reduction of between 500,000 tons and 1 million tons of CO2 per year, according to Rubber Conversion.
In fact, Stellantis has industrialized spring pads containing 20-percent recycled rubber, while Bridgestone has industrialized a tread for a PCR containing 10-percent recycled rubber (by weight).
"For innovation-driven leaders who are actively looking for the most effective solutions for decarbonizing tires, automotive components or footwear manufacturing operations, this is encouraging and exciting news," Rubber Conversion stated in a July 8 release. "These results pave the way for the use of high-quality recycled rubber, allowing remarkable savings in virgin rubber and, in particular, natural rubber."
Founded in 2017, Rubber Conversion provides sustainable rubber for the automotive, tire and footwear spaces.
