The 22nd European Tyre Recycling Conference, Brussels 35th – 27th March 2015, has always had an important role to play in the independent recycling sector. The organiser, the European Tyre Recycling Association (ETRA) has always aimed to bring in presentations on the latest technological developments and has never been frightened of challenging established views.
In a European market dominated by two diametrically opposed methods of dealing with end of life tyre management, ETRA this year introduces Mr. Hermann Erdmann, the head of South Africa’s REDISA as a lead speaker. Hermann Erdmann will outline the government backed third way of managing tyre and rubber waste: A model well suited to developing markets in Africa but with perhaps some key lessons for the European markets: Lessons in developing new processes, lessons in managing collections and in using technology to run a modern business model in a low tech environment.
A second key speaker at the conference will be Dr. Sara Gobbi, Director of European Affairs of ASTM International. Dr. Gobbi will be discussing the progress made by the D24 committee on recycled Carbon Black (rCB) towards creating a set of standards for the pyrolysis char (rCB) from end of life tyres.
This is a key development that would almost overnight change the nature of the tyre pyrolysis sector and enable the acceptance of its products into currently restricted markets where standards are a specification for inclusion in rubber compounding. This could have considerable positive economic and environmental impacts and could help close the recycling loop in the rubber sector.
Another focus of the conference will be the progress of rubberised asphalt, a potentially environmentally, economically driven improvement in road technology that also offers additional safety benefits through better grip and better weather resistance. The Rubberised Asphalt Panel will include Serji Amirkhanian, Professor of Civil Engineering at University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, an expert in rubberised asphalt with over 250 papers to his name. Fellow speakers lined up include Professor Fernando Moreno-Navarro, an Associated Professor in Materials Science, Department of Construction Engineering and Construction Projects, University of Granada and Dr. Davide Lo Presti (Euro-PhD), a Senior Scientist and International Research Project manager currently involved in five rubber related civil engineering research projects at the University of Nottingham.
