ENVIRONMENTAL, ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL ASSESSMENT OF RUBBER BLENDS WITH RECYCLED RUBBER

Abstract

Nowadays, recycled and reclaimed rubber was used as a component in rubber blends in order to save natural resources and to solve the problem of waste rubber. The composition of those blends influences the properties of rubber product, but also the consumption of natural resource, complexity of the system for the rubber blends production and therefore the product price. In this paper, The Analytic Hierarchy Process method was applied to assess rubber blends from environmental, economic, and technical perspective. Different criteria were used for the analysis of: natural resources consumption, mechanical properties of rubber blends, complexity of production system, and product price. Three various types of rubber blends were taken into consideration: virgin rubber based on styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), virgin rubber and reclaimed rubber made from whole tire, virgin rubber filled with recycled rubber powder (RRP). The obtained results show that virgin rubber and reclaimed rubber made from whole tire are the best ranked in terms of all criteria. Key words: Rubber blends, natural recourses, recycled rubber, reclaimed rubber, Analytic Hierarchy Process.