A review of Waste Tyre Rubber as an Alternative Concrete Consituent Material

Abstract

The current global waste tyre generation far exceeds its consumption in terms of recycling and re-use. The traditional recycling and re-use methods like thermal incineration have proven ineffective, costly and in some cases environmentally unsustainable. Particularly, in developing countries where some of the sophisticated techniques required to process tyres to allow them to be utilised are either too costly or have not yet been developed. The situation has resulted in accumulation of large waste tyre stockpiles that pose health and safety risks. To combat the problem, the use of waste tyre rubber in concrete construction has been proposed. Several studies have been conducted to assess the effects of the inclusion of waste tyre rubber in its different forms (fibres, particles), for concrete production and the results are promising. Although there are some apparent demerits to the inclusion of tyre rubber in concrete, the potential benefits seem to overshadow the negatives. This paper reviews published research on the scientific and technical viability of using waste tyre rubber in concrete production. It discusses the production and properties of waste tyre particles. It highlights advances made with regards to the incorporation of tyre rubber material in concrete, focusing on the engineering properties of the tyre rubber modified concrete. In conclusion, recommendations for future research and possible application for the material will be discussed.

Long-Term Sustainability Approach in Road Traffic Noise Wall Design

“…According to previous research, if the entire lifecycle is considered, the main environmental impact of concrete panels is related to the production processes of the binder and, to a lesser extent, the aggregate. A possible way to reduce the environmental impact of the production of concrete is to use secondary raw materials as source materials for concrete, either as binders (pulverized fly ash or ground granulated blast furnace slag) or as aggregates (polyurethane foam scrap, iron-free tire rubber granulate, mixed plastics aggregate, or expanded mixed plastics) [57][58][59][60]. In addition, as the lowest minimal average values were reported for the sound absorption of concrete panels, further investigations should be focused on the characteristics of absorbing lightweight concrete panels.…”

“…Lightweight expanded clay aggregates and lightweight plant biomass aggregates are common types of lightweight aggregates used today in the production of the sound absorbing, non-structural layer of noise walls. The use of recycled tire rubber aggregates as a sustainable solution to produce lightweight concrete has received increasing attention in recent years [60,[73][74][75][76][77].…”

“…The production of pulverized tires by the cryogenic pulverization process includes two steps of mechanical size reduction. The first step is mechanical size reduction, and the second step is a further size reduction to the pulverized material under cryogenic conditions, through which it is easier to obtain the desired particle size [57,60,84].…”

Effect of Waste Tire Rubber on the Durability Behavior of Cement Composites: A Review

“…As shown in Table 1, tire is made of a combination of natural rubber, synthetic rubber, carbon black steel, and doses of different fillers, accelerators and antioxidants in different weight percentage proportions (Alexander et al, 2018;. Waste tire rubber for cement composite application is usually produced using one of two processes known as ambient or cryogenic grinding process (Alexander et al, 2018). The ambient process of producing crumb rubber usually starts with reducing the waste tire in to 100 mm to 50 mm pieces by mechanical shredding at room temperature (Alexander et al, 2018).…”

“…Waste tire rubber for cement composite application is usually produced using one of two processes known as ambient or cryogenic grinding process (Alexander et al, 2018). The ambient process of producing crumb rubber usually starts with reducing the waste tire in to 100 mm to 50 mm pieces by mechanical shredding at room temperature (Alexander et al, 2018). Primary granulation process follows in which the pieces are further reduced to sizes ranging from 50 mm to 10 mm.…”