Selecting of Material which Will Provide Less Carbon Footprint

Introduction

Mike Biddle said:’ There is no rubbish in the world. The reason why we call them rubbish is that we do not know how to use them in the correct way.’Since polymer was used to make tires, a large amount of scrap tires have been produced every year: In 2017, the production of tires increased, and the mass of scrap tires was over 13,000,000 tons. This fact arouses social concern, and the research on tires has become more and more important.

This report will focus on the life cycle of tires, including the material, the manufacture, the distribution, and the function. It will also introduce the disposal of tires, which contains reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Life Cycle

Material

There are two main raw materials used in making tires--cords and elastomer. Cords are comprised of steel and fibers. There are many kinds of fibers that can be used to make cords, like cotton, nylon, silk, and Kevlar. Cords form the ply and bead, which play an important role in providing tensile strength. Another necessary material for making tires is the elastomer, which forms the tread and prevents cords from abrasion. Different kinds of rubber material compose the elastomer, and the most common one is styrene-butadiene. Other chemical materials, like silica and carbon black, are also necessary components.

Styrene-butadiene influences the property of the elastomer very much. The ratio of the styrene-butadiene determines the material’s glass transition temperature, and it is also the key to improving the material’s grip and resistance properties. As these properties are very significant for tires, scientists make efforts to improve these properties, including amending the microstructure of the polymer as well as the microstructure of the copolymer. Using these materials, people can produce numerous specialized components and begin to produce tires.

Manufacture

Tires are made by molding. The first step is to select the materials and decide their ratio of them. A material that is environment-friendly will provide less carbon footprint. The carbon in materials accounts for the largest portion of the carbon footprint.Producing a traditional tire needs about 86.9kg of carbon dioxide, while a new tire needs only 48kg of carbon dioxide approximately.  A new type of tire is also friendly to the environment because degradable material is widely used nowadays. The next step is mixing and blending them into homogeneous substances. The third stage is component preparation. Based on the process, components can be divided into three parts--calendering, extrusion, and bead building. The following stage is tire building and curing. During this period, the main purpose is to give the mixture a final shape. After piecing components together, components are put into the mold for shaping. The last step is testing the performance of the tires. After that, the tires are complete.

Distribution

As China is one of both the largest importers of rubber and the largest exporters of tires. The carbon footprint during the transport of the raw material and the product distribution accounts for a large proportion of its life cycle.

In order to Tires after use still has great use. Today, used tires are mostly reheated into rubber for the next use. Others may be just fired and buried, which is definitely not the perfect way. Nowadays, the best day is to reuse it. The carbon footprint during the process of retreading is much less than manufacturing a new one. A study shows that a new tire needs 31kg of carbon dioxide, while it only needs 22kg of carbon dioxide in retreading.

Improvement:

1. turn to a local brand
2. retread rather than buy new ones

Functions

Tires are one of the most important parts of vehicles for the reason that it plays a vital role in making sure the proper operation of vehicles.

Tires have four main functions:

1. First, they support the full weight of the vehicle and withstand its load of it.
2. Second, they transmit the torsion of the traction and braking to ensure good adhesion between the wheel and the road surface.
3. Third, tires play an important role in maintaining and changing directions.
4. Fourth, tires can act as buffers to absorb shocks that are caused by obstacles or other irregularities during the ride. This prevents the car parts from severe vibration and reduces the noise during driving.

It should be noted that properly inflated tires save appropriately 144 gallons of fuel per 12000 miles and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1.5 tons per year. Hence mimicry the carbon footprint. Additionally, tires’ mileage can be improved by around 3.3 percent if tires are inflated to the proper pressure. Overall, inflating tires are properly worth a try for both your purse and the environment.

While the tire suffers wear and tear, its property will be weakened. In order to ensure the passengers’ safety, tires must be replaced in time. As a result, amounts of scrap tires are produced, and dealing with them has become a hot topic.

Disposal

Landfill and open burning are the most traditional ways to dispose of scrap tires. However, they have bad effects on the environment: they release toxic chemicals, threaten humans, and increase the risk of fire.

Reduce

To reduce the bad effects caused by scrap tires, the most fundamental method is to reduce the tire itself. In order to do so, either straining the rapid increase in the number of vehicles by promoting public transportation or improving the manufacturing skill to extend the service life of tires are both feasible.

Reuse

As the raw material of tires are synthetic rubber, fabric, and wires, it is difficult for tires to be degraded. Environmentalists come up with various ideas to reuse them in life.

There are examples:

1. First, tires can be transformed into other furniture, such as swings, tables, chairs, kennels, and so on.
2. Furthermore, scrap tires can be reused as the raw material of artworks. After being cut, painted, and assembled, scrap tires can be transformed into different artworks, such as picture frames, tire armor, and so on.
3. Waste Tire Textile Fibers (WTTF) abstracted from scrap tires can be used as soil strengtheners. It is capable of improving all soil’s tensile strength and ductility, both in clayey and sandy soil.

Considering that no chemical reactions are in these processes, the carbon footprint is small.

Recycle

A common method to recycle tires is Pyrolysis. It’s a process to transport scrap tires into fuel oil. When the pyrolysis temperatures exceed 350 degree Celsius, the tires will break down into hydrocarbon gas and the smaller hydrocarbons of fuel oil.

Conclusion

There are many ways to reuse and recycle junked tires. For example, humans can use them to make artwork or use the pyrolysis method, which is mentioned in the passage before. However, there are still some things humans can improve. Humans can go by bus instead of go by car because the best way to reduce the damage to the environment is to reduce the use of tires. This passage introduces the life cycle (material-manufacture-distribution-function) and the disposal (reduce-reuse-recycle) of tires. As humans do research on the material of tires, tires will be easier to be recycled and more environmentally friendly.

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