Rubber Recycling at Room Temperature

Apr-02-16 A new rubber recycling method is able to function at room temperature, saving energy and possibly allowing the material to be recycling back to original use.

Developed by a team from Durham University, the method takes advantage of Grubbs’ catalysts, which uses cross-metathesis reactions to break down polybutadiene networks at their double bonds. This causes the material to become rubber crumb at room temperature, without the need for extremely high or low temperatures, and the Grubbs’ catalysts are easy to obtain and synthesize.

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