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ARCHIVED - Murcia research centre in pioneering project to convert used tyres into high-quality shoes
The international project has been developed by the Region of Murcia's Technological Centre for Plastics and Footwear (CETEC)
Murcia's Technological Centre for Plastics and Footwear (CETEC) has managed to extract high-precision rubber from used tyres to make high-quality shoes using the "most innovative recycling technology on a global level".
The project has been hailed as "pioneering" by the European Commission, which is financing a large part of the project developed in the Region of Murcia in partnership with different business and non-profit organisations in Spain, Belgium and France.
Discarded tyres have a serious environmental impact. Amongst other things, when the rubber wears, they throw off harmful plastic polymers that often end up as pollutants in oceans and waterways.
But CETEC's innovative 'DevulCore' techniques make it possible to recover rubber from end-of-life tyres through a process of devulcanisation, which converts rubber into a new "virgin" raw material through the use of microwaves.
In addition to being used to make shoe soles, the raw material called 'Value-Rubber' can be applied to sealing gaskets for waste water networks, rubber shock absorbers, acoustic insulation and conveyor belts, for example.
The breakthrough is the culmination of two years work by researchers in Murcia, and almost 2.5 million euros, of which 1.93 million has been provided by the European Commission.
And those involved in the project believe Value-Rubber has the potential to be used as a permanent substitute for virgin rubbers in conventional manufacturing processes.
Image: CETEC
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