Carbolytic Materials Company (CMC) is the first company to successfully commercialize carbon black from end-of-life rubber materials to create a carbon black alternative suitable for industrial use. ApexCM™ pellets and powder provide excellent physical properties similar to those of carbon black, but at a lower cost.
CMC was founded by a team of highly trained scientists specializing in Chemical Engineering and Analytical Chemistry. They are experienced rubber and plastics industry veterans with a broad range of product and process technology development experience. Looking for an alternative to carbon black, this talented group created a product using proprietary technology that is both economically and environmentally sound. Their innovative process accepts used tires as raw material and recovers three distinct product streams with no unusable byproducts.
The CMC process utilizes chipped tires in a unique, controlled environment that generates no odors or emissions, while collecting gas (vapor), oil, and solid streams as finished products. The result of this process is to return all materials to their original state as oil, gas and the reinforcing carbon that becomes ApexCM. As an added benefit, the oil and gas that are produced are usable as fuel, thus achieving the ultimate goal of recycling the entire rubber product.
Recently, the scientists and engineers at Carbolytic Materials Company accomplished and exceeded their recycling goals and the environmental impact is impressive. Up to 40% of scrap tires generated annually could be successfully processed saving critical landfill space. For every 1,000 pounds of ApexCM pellets produced the following is achieved:
- Approximately 190 scrap tires consumed
- The import and use of 380 gallons of oil avoided
- 1,930 pounds of CO2 emissions avoided.
ApexCM pellets can be used in a wide range of applications including extruded materials, molding, laminates, weather stripping, films, membranes, hoses, belts, wipers, gaskets, rubber boots, mounts, bushings, roofing materials, bags, tank liners, plastic piping and sheet plastic, and tires. ApexCM compares extremely well to carbon blacks in the N700 and N900 ranges and certain applications that use N500 and N600 grades. Current testing is underway for application using other grades as well.
ApexCM is currently manufactured only in the United States. Research facilities are located in St. Louis, Missouri and a new manufacturing facility is under construction in Maryville, Missouri. CMC also has sales offices in Hudson, Ohio, just outside Akron, the heart of America’s polymer development and manufacturing region.
