What is reclaimed rubber and how is it made?

What is reclaimed rubber, and how is it made?

Reclaimed rubber is devulcanised rubber produced from end-of-life rubber goods — primarily tyres and tubes — that has been processed back into a workable, mix-able form suitable for use in rubber compounding. It is not recycled in the conventional sense (i.e. it is not simply ground up and re-pressed). The reclamation process actively breaks the sulphur cross-links formed during original vulcanisation, returning the material to a partially plastic state.

The process, step by step

Collection and sorting. End-of-life tyres and tubes are collected from workshops, retreaders, and used-goods dealers. Sorting at this stage is critical: butyl tubes, natural rubber tubes, and whole tyres all go into separate streams. Mixing feedstock at the input stage destroys the grade integrity of the output.

De-wiring (for tyres). Steel-radial tyres must be de-wired before processing. The steel bead wire is extracted mechanically and sold as scrap metal. This is one of the cost-intensive steps for WTRR production.

Size reduction. The feedstock is shredded or granulated to reduce particle size and increase surface area for the devulcanisation step.

Devulcanisation. In the digester/autoclave stage, the granulated rubber is treated with heat, steam pressure, and processing chemicals (reclaiming agents) that attack the polysulphidic cross-links. The result is a partially devulcanised rubber that can be milled and used in compound formulations.

Milling and refining. The devulcanised material is processed through open-roll mills to a uniform sheet or bale form. Consistency across batches is largely a function of quality control at this stage.

At AIC Green’s plant in Lahore, this process runs at a capacity of 800 MT per month across three product grades: Butyl, WTRR, and Natural Reclaim.