Artificial underwater reefs made from used tires: a complete failure!
It is no secret that the world has a problem with too many used automotive tires. There have been many good uses for them, and even more ideas are currently being thought up. But, unfortunately, there have been some stinkers, too. For instance, using tires as artificial underwater reefs for marine life. As this story on Yahoo attests, these reefs have proven to be nothing short of a disaster. It is not as if we haven't tried, New Jersey especially attempted three different methods of using the old tires in this way. Unfortunately, however, none of them proved successful.
So, what to do with the old tires, if not sink them in the ocean? The best use of used tires for the environment would be to chop them up and recycle them into new products. This is being done, but there are just too many tires and not enough new products that can be made from them; recycled tires are not suitable for use in new tires, unfortunately. Across the world, many of the tires are burned for fuel. This is not a good solution, environmentally speaking. According to this site, "A 21-pound tire contains only five pounds of petroleum-based synthetic rubber. The rest is natural rubber, steel belts and bead wire, carbon black, cloth and a mix of other chemicals which do not contribute significantly to the heating value of an incinerated tire. Burning tires for fuel also reclaims only a small portion of the energy it takes to produce a tire."
The truth of the matter is that there is no real solution to the glut of used tires worldwide. The best we can hope for is that science comes up with more and more ways to recycle them or reduce them to their original compounds. Maybe flying cars are not such a bad idea? Just kidding.
[Source: Yahoo News and Ohio DNR]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Doug R 4:24PM (2/17/2007)
The picture looks like mesquito metropolis. Can you say, "West Nile" haven?
When there's a will, there's always a way. Farmers are particularly good at figuring out stuff like this.
Maybe re-discovering re-treading is an option. I remember when I was a kid my folks tried it and it was a disaster. But I did run across an ad in a 4WD magazine of a company called Hi Tech re-treading who claimed to use only the best shells to start with, claimed just as high mileage as a new tire and had a replacement warranty as good as any new tire. The tire was half the price which scared me away. My father-in-law (truck driver) reminded me that 18 wheelers use re-treads all the time for thousands and thousands of miles.
I tried (for the sake of sheer economics) recently to find the company and I couldn't. Maybe everyone else chickened out like me and they went out of business. If someone could find them I'd sure like to hear about it.
Reply
Doug R 4:57PM (2/17/2007)
One thing I'd like to add is that there are more and more overseas tire brands that are cheaper. They're putting more of the higher quality tire brands out of business. More and more folks are choosing these cheaper tires (mainly from China) and the mileage on these imports are usually half that of a higher quality tire. This is probably a good reason for the overflow.
Reply
a54 5:43PM (2/17/2007)
I take issue with the "no-real solution" claim.
Tires can be used as fuel for cement kilns. They also can be used for an ethanol plant
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/03/future_fuels_an.html.
When this startech technology is fully adopted, landfills will be a thing of the past and energy will be generated from our waste.
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/873aae7bf86c0110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html
Reply
rick 6:17PM (2/17/2007)
In addition to Starteck there is Fuel Frontiers that it trying to get funding for a gasification tires to ethanol plant in NJ. This is not new technology. What's new is taking it all the way to ethanol. Here's the pr from Fuel Frontiers:
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/070104/0199714.html
In addition, read MIT's report on Garbage-to-Ethanol. They state that it is poossible to produce ethanol from Municipal Solid Waste for $.05 to $.95/gallon:
http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18084/
Reply
Jeremy Korzeniewski 11:24PM (2/17/2007)
I did bring up using tires as fuel, and I was also aware that cement kilns were one example of doing it. However, they are not all that great of a fuel source, and the emissions from their burning is not very kind to the environment, at least from what I have read. However, what MIT is doing is laudable. Additionally, reducing them to their original compounds allows many more uses for the old tires. Most of these are in the infant stage, though, hopefully they take off!
Reply
jjs 8:25AM (2/18/2007)
Aren't old tires being used in asphalt to pave roads in some places?
I suspect lots of people aren't getting their tires rotated -- which they should.
Reply
Sebastian 2:36PM (2/18/2007)
What about making tires out of biologic products such as soy like the US did in WWII?
Reply
rick 9:56PM (2/18/2007)
Jeremy,
You need to study the gasification process. Tires to ethanol is a fabulous idea. Gasification is basically burning in the absence of oxygen. These plasma processes burn in the 1000's of degrees, and produce a gas, which is a high hydrogen gas and it can run generators to produce electricity, OR be converted to ethanol, methanol, butanol ina chemical process without being released into the environment. Please check it out. MIT says we have enough MSW to replace 25% of the gasoline we use with ethanol!!!!!!!!! All for less than $1/gallon.
This makes possible a world where PHEV's run on grid power and ethanol to run the generator. We could buy nothing from the people who hate us. It's a really fabulous plan that MIT says can work. You can get some publicity for this process.
Please also check out Range Fuels. Forest waste and Municiple Solid Waste to ethanol. Vinod Kohsla is a very well known venture capitalist who will make that company work.
Reply
joseph 10:25PM (4/28/2007)
I have done the breakdown of tyres to their elements and was amazed at the five financially viable areas. I am not able to go further with this project for the moment because of finance and fear of piracy. Tyres, however can be the answer to a lot of energy needs domestic and comercial.
Reply