Building Materials from Scrap Tires and Waste Plastics

Two major waste streams, thermoplastics and used automotive tires, need a technological and economic method to decrease their entry into our environment. Both have long life-cycles as waste, causing many deleterious environmental problems. The Phase I, II , and Ill goal is to divert plastic and tire waste and its pollution away from landfills and the environment into transformational new technologies for new manufacturing materials. New commercial products are waste to wealth driven: conductive ink, control of electrostatic discharge flooring material, plastics with heat-conducting capability, batteries, capacitors, automotive, aerospace, pharmaceuticals, new coatings to avoid radar detection, and 3-D manufacturing of light weight electrical conductive parts. We expect many imaginative applications from the scientific community once we provide plastic pellets with electrical conductivity. If electrically conductive plastic pellets are provided on a large scale, this could create a new billion dollar industry. In Phase I, different blends of plastics and automotive tire waste will be made to evaluate electrical conductivity. We will re-connect with waste tire clients to inform them of our efforts on a project that may benefit them. In Phase II , we will construct a pilot plant to make electrically conductive plastic pellets and initiate 3-D manufacturing of plastic parts.