PDEng Thesis Defence Vignesh Kumar Rajendran

On Wednesday, June 29th, 2016, Mr. Vignesh Kumar Rajendran has successfully defended his PDEng thesis, entitled ‘Process design for devulcanization of whole truck tire rubber’.



Recycling of rubber is the need of the hour considering the rapid depletion of resources. Used tires are one waste stream worth to consider for recycling. Possibilities for re-use of tire materials are granulate, reclaim or devulcanizate.


Devulcanization, as the name says, is the reversion of the vulcanization process: this is the most ideal process for recycling of rubber. It is a cradle-to-cradle approach, as the devulcanized material has a high quality and a property profile close to the virgin material. In contrast to reclaimed rubber, which so far is the best recycled rubber product on the market, this material can be used in higher loadings in virgin rubber compounds; for reclaim, the quantity of recycled material is limited to a few percent in tire applications.


Interesting to know: Worldwide, app. 8.000.000 waste tire are generated annually. This is a pile 5 times around the globe or 2/3 the distance to the moon!