Rubber Processing

Synthetic rubber polymers are made from petroleum-based chemicals, clumped and dried for transport. Once at a manufacturing plant, the synthetic rubber polymers are mixed, ingredients may be added and the rubber is rolled into sheets. The sheets can be cut into strips for subsequent molding and processing.

Rubber may not be the first thing you think of when you think reduce, reuse, recycle, but some products can be recycled. For example, tires can be shredded and heated in an anaerobic environment (pyrolysis) to break down the rubber and to reclaim the oil as oil by-products such as benzene. In other recycling methods, shredded rubber can be compression molded into different products.