Textile fibres represent about 10% by weight of the end-of-life tyres (ELT) and every year, in Europe, about 320,000 tons of dirty fibrous material must be disposed as special waste. This results in negative impacts on the environment, in terms of GHG emissions and pollution, economic losses and public costs.
REFIBRE action aims to overcome the two main existing barriers limiting ELT fibre recycling, these are:
- the absence of useful and economically affordable applications for fibre reuse that makes it worthy of recycling, and
- the lacking of proper treatment technologies for recovery of clean fibres.
The ultimate goal of this project is 100% valorisation of the ELT fibre material and finally transform it into a useful secondary raw material according to a “circular economy” thinking. This can be done only through a new appropriate treatment of the fibre aimed at improving its quality and features in order to prepare it for reuse.
Therefore, the specific objectives of the REFIBRE project are:
- design, construction and validation of an innovative industrial pilot plant that enables ELT fibre treatment, cleaning and processing and makes the fibre recyclable and reusable;
- production of new materials (plastic compounds, asphalts) modified with the fibre and demonstration of their superior technical features and economic suitability compared to traditional ones;
- perform quantitative assessment of the environmental impact indicators by LCA and LCC aiming to prove cost/environmental effectiveness of the proposed new solutions;
- promote the project and its results to stakeholders through targeted dissemination and networking (also with the support of the national association for recovery PFU, Ecopneus);
- stimulate the stakeholders to the valorisation of the recycled fibre then following environmentally sustainable paths for material recovery in line with the EU waste legislation on ELV materials (2000/53/EC, DM 11/04/2011, D. Lgs. 152/06);
- pave the way for replication and transfer of the results in other EU countries;
- contribute to reach the target goals of the Roadmap for a Resource-Efficient Europe and the 7th EAP, i.e.: maximise recycling, limit incineration or landfilling to non-recyclable materials, and reduce environmental emissions and pollution.
The aim of the project LIFE14 ENV/IT/000160 is the industrialization of production on processes of asphalt and plastic compounds with added textile fibres by ELTs, in order to enter the market as a finished product.
The actions to be implemented are the following:
- Treatment of the textile fibres, coming out of the recovery ELTs, to make it compatible with the successive stages of processing;
- Audits of workability and optimization of mixtures in relation to the subsequent processing;
- Field-tests on physical / mechanical improvement of the finished product.
RESULTS
REFIBRE contribute (impact only for the company)
- Reduction :
- 200 tons/year landfill waste
- 1,000 tons/year waste that goes to incineration
- GHG emission :
- CO2 equivalent, saving about 4 Tons of CO2 equivalent for each Tonne of fibrer used
- SO2 equivalent, saving about 10.8 Kg di SO2 equivalent for each Tonne of fibrer used
- fine powders (PM2.5 , 5, 10), saving about 1.3 Kg of fine powders for each Tonne of fibrer used
- Use of recycled fibres as secondary raw material
- Production of 6,000 tons/year of plastic PP compounds (20% by weight) - sufficient to make about 400,000 bins with 240 litre volume for waste garbage collection
alternative
- produce 400,000 tons/year of reinforced asphalt (0.3% by weight) - sufficient for the refurbishment of a 200 Km road