EP0574490A1

EP0574490A1 - Waste tyre disposal recycling

Info

Publication number: EP0574490A1
Application number: EP92906652A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Richard Anthony Keers; Barry Anthony Cowley
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: COWLEY Barry Anthony; KEERS Richard Anthony
Priority date: 1991-03-05
Filing date: 1992-03-05
Publication date: 1993-12-22
Also published as: HUT75439A; CA2105581A1; HU9302495D0; JPH06504740A; FI933863A0; EP0574490A4; FI933863A; WO1992015438A1

Abstract

Procédé de récuperation du caoutchouc et d'autres constituants de pneus usés ayant une bande de roulement renforcée, qui consiste à enlever le caoutchouc de la bande de roulement pratiquement jusqu'à la partie renforcée en utilisant des jets de liquide à ultrahaute pression et à convertir ensuite les constituants restants de pneu en une forme adaptée à la récupération desdits constituants.Method for recovering rubber and other constituents of used tires having a reinforced tread, which consists in removing the rubber from the tread practically to the reinforced part using jets of liquid at ultra high pressure and converting then the remaining components of the tire in a form suitable for the recovery of said components.

Description

"WASTE TYRE DISPOSAL RECYCLING"

THIS INVENTION relates to a method and apparatus for reclaiming rubber and other constituents from tyres which have served their useful life.

Used tyres have traditionally either been dumped in stock piles or disposed of in landfills or the like. However, these traditional methods of disposal of used tyres have resulted in significant environmental problems due to the likelihood and eventuality of fires in tyre dumps and the "floating" to the surface of tyres used in landfill areas.

The environmental problems caused by fires in- tyre dumps are significant and relate to the omission of toxic compounds, the release of contaminated water, and also the inadvertent production of oil from the burning tyres. The difficulties encountered when tyres in landfill sites float to the surface are quite clear and result in significant enclosure problems.

Due to the difficulties encountered with these traditional forms of disposal of waste tyres, there has been a need for alternative disposal methods. These alternative disposal methods relate to alternative uses for waste tyres, total recycle of the components of the waste tyres, or shredding of the waste tyres to allow them to be used more acceptably as landfill.

Shredded or whole tyres can be used as a supplemental fuel in a variety of applications. Specifically, tyres may be used as an industrial fuel in boilers and electricity generation and also in cement kilns where the ash residue is incorporated in the cement. Whole tyres may also be used to provide novel noise or safety barriers and may even be used to provide artificial reefs, break waters, marine fenders, plant containers or structures for land embankment erosion control. Shredded tyres, or more usually crumb rubber which is produced from used tyres, is used for addition to asphalt paving products to provide an asphalt material having increased flexibility and improved resistance to thermal and reflective cracking. Further uses for crumb rubber are in carpet backing, doormat backing and underlay carpet, an agent for brake linings and friction material, as a base material for artificial sports grounds, a vibration absorption material, a filling for joints in roads, and anti-static mats for computer use and the like. There are of course many other possible uses for these products.

It can therefore be seen that there are significant uses available for rubber recovered from waste tyres. However, the recycling techniques employed must be capable of recovering all materials present in the tyre, including fibre and metal, and must not merely be limited to recovering the rubber. Furthermore, these recycling techniques must be suitable to adequately separate the fibre and metal from the rubber component in order to provide a saleable product. Of course, any such recycling technique should also be able to overcome the environmental difficulties associated with known methods for disposal of waste tyres.

Thus, an aim of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for the reclaiming of rubber and other constituents from tyres which have served their useful life.

The present invention provides a method of reclaiming rubber and other constituents from used tyres having a reinforced tread portion, the method comprising removing the rubber from the tread portion down to substantially the reinforcement therein by using ultra high pressure fluid jets- and subsequently converting the residual tyre constituents to a form suitable for recovery of said constituents.

Preferably the removal of the rubber from the tread portion of the tyre is achieved by rotating the tyre about its axis and by fixing the ultra high pressure fluid jets relative thereto. However, the tyre may of course be fixed and the jets may be rotated thereabout. Furthermore, most tyres also include a pair of axially spaced coaxial beads and for these tyres the rotation of a tyre about its axis would also of course be rotation of the tyre about the axis of the beads.

The tread rubber may be removed from the tyre in one piece, such as by an ultra high pressure fluid knife, or in a small number of pieces, or may be removed directly in granulated or crumbed form. This latter alternative reduces the need for further processing of the one-piece tread rubber to convert it to a granulated or crumbed form if desired.

The rubber removed from the tread portion may be used as granulated, crumbed, or powdered rubber for any of the particular applications described above, and the size and quality of this rubber product may be readily altered by the pressure, configuration and location of the ultra high pressure fluid jets.

Preferably, ultra high pressure fluid jets are also used to convert the residual tyre constituents to the form suitable for their recovery. In this respect, the residual tyre constituents generally comprise the tread reinforcement, whether that be in the form of a steel reinforcement or a fibre reinforcement, the side wall components and the pair of coaxial spaced beads. The use of ultra high pressure fluid jets, and in particular the use of ultra high pressure water jets, provides many advantages which particularly suit the method and apparatus of this invention. For example, materials such as rubber are difficult to cut by conventional cutting methods but are cut with relative ease by ultra high pressure water. Further, there is only a negligible amount of heat generated by the cutting action which may otherwise cause the rubber particles to become sticky and agglomerate, and there is virtually no dust produced during the cutting process. Further still, it is possible to remove rubber adhering to steel reinforcement and bead components without generating metallic fines which would be difficult to subsequently remove and would incur unnecessary cost.

Ultra high pressure water jets also only generate low levels of thrust and thus the clamping requirements for the tyres are much less than they would be with conventional cutting methods. Furthermore, the granulated or crumb rubber product is automatically washed during the cutting process and thus only requires subsequent dewatering prior to grading and packing.

Preferably, rotating water jets would be utilised having reasonably small jet sizes such as in the order of 0.25 mm diameter, resulting in water velocities of up to 915 m/s at fluid pressures in the order of 5000 to 60000 psi. The preferred pressure range would normally be in the order of 10000 to 50000 psi with a preferred pressure of 35000 psi. It will be noted that the velocity of the water jets is almost three times the speed of sound.

In one form of the invention the residual tyre constituents may be subjected to a single operation where ultra high pressure water jets are used to fragment all of the constituents concurrently to produce a pulp material capable of being subsequently subjected to cleaning and classifying operations. Thus, the remaining constituents may be converted to the separate rubber, metal and fibre components and then may be separated by any known separation technique such as magnetic separation, or by gravitation techniques, the pulp having been previously dried in a conventional drier, or being separated wet and subsequently dried. The separate components may then be sorted and packaged as necessary.

However, in the preferred form of the invention, the residual tyre constituents are not processed to a pulp in a single operation, but rather undergo separate operations to firstly separate the individual components and then to process those components to create the desired products. Thus, following removal of ^"the rubber from the tread portion, ultra high pressure water jets may be used to separate the beads from the side wall and then to separate the side wall from the tyre carcass. In this operation, the metal in the beads may be stripped from the surrounding rubber, and the rubber and fibre (or rubber and steel reinforcing) would also be separated by virtue of the action of the ultra high pressure water jets. In a following operation the carcass may be subjected to further action of ultra high pressure water jets to convert any remaining materials to a pulp form.

Thus, in the initial stage of the method of the invention a tyre may be rotated about its axis adjacent to a multiple head rotating ultra high pressure (UHP) water jet operated at 10000 to 50000 psi. The action of the water jets hydromills the rubber from the tread portion quickly and effectively and the rubber may be recovered by filtration or any other suitable solid/liquid separation process as crumbs or powder as required. The nature of the products will depend upon the water pressures used, the number of jets, rotational speed, and the distance of the jets away from the tyre. The rubber product may then be dried in a rotary kiln dryer or the like prior to weighing packaging and despatch. If necessary, the rubber product may be classified according to its particle size prior to packaging and despatch.

This initial stage of the invention is complete when substantially all of the tread rubber has been removed from the tyre. Adequate control may be achieved over the removal of tread rubber as the depth of cutting can be precisely controlled by adjusting the water pressure and/or the speed of rotation or stand off distance of the water jets.

The remaining tyre carcass with steel belt reinforcement (if present), side walls and steel beads may then be similarly rotated about its axis while similar rotating UHP jets firstly remove the steel beading and then the side wall of the tyre. The side wall of the tyre is preferably demolished to rubber granules (such as crumb rubber) and reinforcement particles, whether those reinforcement particles be steel particles or fibre particles. In this same operation it may be possible to cut the steel beads to steel pieces of a predetermined length.

The final stage of the method of the invention acts on the residual carcass of the tyre which usually consists of steel wire bonded by thin layers of rubber with a thin inner rubber layer. This carcass is preferably turned on its side whilst a double rotating UHP water jet progressively destroys the total carcass. The resultant pulp is preferably collected for drying, separation and packing.

The ultimate separation of steel from rubber and fibre may be conducted by use of an electromagnet or the like, while separation of rubber and fibre may be readily attended to by drying and agitation. However, any suitable process may be used to separate the relevant components and to provide them in a form ready for packaging. Further, if the removal processes or separating processes are not acceptably efficient it is possible to include a stage for the total destruction of any material taken from the system that has unacceptable quality or composition. Such a total destruction stage may simply be a system of ultra high pressure fluid jets configured so as to convert any material to a pulp.

It will be understood that the method of this invention may be readily automated by use of known automation technology, or may be provided in a simplified version in a mobile form. Thus, the apparatus could be adapted so as to be readily incorporated on a truck or trailer and taken to tyre disposal and waste landfill sites for processing a minimum quantity of tyres. It is envisaged that such a fully mobile truck/trailer unit would be independently powered by a dieεel generator. The operation would preferably be semi automatic with a programmable logic controller control system operated by a one or two person team.

It will also be understood that each of the UHP water jet systems would preferably be substantially enclosed in order to provide acoustic insulation and also to ensure the containment of all rubber granules generated. Furthermore, the method of this invention does not involve the combustion of materials or the use of chemicals and does not generate dust during operation. Also, the small volume of water used in the cutting process would be filtered and recycled within the process and thus there would be virtually no effluent or noxious air omissions to cause environmental problems. The process also generates only negligible odours due again to the low level production of heat. Thus, the only envisaged environmental difficulties would be the noise generated by the operation of the ultra high pressure water jet cutting equipment at supersonic velocities. However, these noise difficulties can be readily contained.

The invention therefore provides a method and apparatus for converting waste tyres into useful byproducts such as granulated, crumbed or powdered rubber together with relatively high grade steel scrap material. The process is able to vary the size of the rubber product and is able to operate on a wide variety of types and sizes of waste tyres. The process is extremely environmentally friendly and may be operated on a mass basis or on a small basis in a mobile or portable form.

The rubber materials generated by this method are readily usable in various products and for various markets throughout the world. In particular, there are presently crumb rubber manufacturing facilities in countries such as France, Netherlands, Germany and the United States. However, all of these plants utilise conventional process technology. With existing and planned new capacity, production is expected to increase to in excess of 200000 tonnes of crumb rubber per annum in an attempt to meet the growing demand for such a product. Thus, the method of this invention not only cost effectively solves an existing problem that lies in the ever increasing number of waste tyres, but produces an end product having a steadily increasing demand.

The present invention will now be described in relation to two preferred embodiments. However, it must be appreciated that the following description is not to limit the generality of the above description. In the drawings;

Figure 1 is a flowsheet showing process stages of a first embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a flowsheet showing process stages of a second embodiment of the present invention;

Figures 3a and 3b are end and side views respectively of apparatus used in the second embodiment as illustrated in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a schematic top view of further apparatus used in the second embodiment as illustrated in Figure

2; and

Figure 5 is a schematic side view of further apparatus used in the second embodiment as illustrated in Figure

2.

Referring to Figure 1, waste tyres are fed to the primary stage 10 of the ultra high pressure UHP water treatment unit 22 by the infeeding system 16. The UHP water treatment unit 22 utilises water jets operating at pressures in the range 10000 to 50000 psi to fragment/shred and convert the waste tyres into manageable and useful forms or components as raw materials for various manufactured products. The process of fragmentation and shredding is known as hydromilling/hydroblasting and has the advantages that it is highly effective, uses a relatively small quantity of water and generates little dust. These advantages are highly relevant to the commercial viability of the process because handling of large volumes of water and dust extraction are capitally intensive processes.

In the primary stage 10, the tyre is rotated on a fixed axis under multiple head rotating UHP water jets. The action of the water jets hydromills the rubber from the tread portion very quickly and effectively and the rubber may be recovered by filtration or any other suitable solid- liquid separation process as crumbs or powder. The nature of the products will depend upon the water pressures used. The rubber product is then dried in a rotary kiln dryer 14 prior to weighing, packaging and dispatch. If necessary, the rubber product is classified according to its particle size prior to packaging and dispatch.

The primary stage is complete when substantially all the tread rubber has been removed from the tyre. As indicated earlier, good control can be achieved over the removal of tread rubber because the depth of cutting can be precisely controlled by adjusting the water pressure and/or the speed of rotation of the water jets. At that point, the tyre carcass remaining may be cut across its perimeter and laterally spread and fed through an automated feeding system to the secondary stage 12 of the UHP water treatment unit 22. The carcass is then subjected to a further hydromilling treatment except that the water pressure employed may be somewhat higher to ensure that more retractible materials such as metal reinforcing and bead wires are also converted with rubber and fibre into a pulp form. This ensures a higher reclamation efficiency of tyre constituents.

The materials are then subjected to magnetic or gravitational separation to recover metal. The metal is dried, if necessary, weighed, packaged and dispatched possibly for recovery in a metal reclamation plant. The rubber/fibre mixture remaining is then dried in rotary kiln dryer 18 prior to separation of fibre in separation unit 20 which might again be accomplished using a gravitational technique. The materials are then sorted, weighed and packaged prior to dispatch for use in various applications.

In the second embodiment illustrated in Figure 2 incoming tyres 30 are offloaded to a covered store 32 having a capacity of, for example, 30000 tyres based on the most common sizes (13 and 14 inch rims). At this point, it may be necessary to install a tyre washing fac ity if heavily contaminated tyres are encountered. Tyres may then be transferred in groups to the initial separation stage 34 where they undergo the removal of the rubber from the tread portion thereof down to substantially the reinforcement therein by way of ultra high pressure water jets. An example of apparatus suitable for this is illustrated in Figures 3a and 3b.

The remaining portion of the tyre (including the side walls, the carcass and the steel beads) and the liberated tread rubber may then be palletised and transferred to a second covered storage area 36 ready for further processing. In this embodiment, the tread rubber is shown transferred to a collection bin 38 prior to final weighing and packaging.

This remaining portion is transferred to a further ultra high pressure water system 40 which successively removes the bead and demolishes the side wall to rubber granules, known generiσally as "crumb rubber", and fibre particles. The fibre particles are generally in the form of steel fibre particles, however they may be in the form of cloth fibre particles if the particular tyre is constructed with reinforced cloth. The crumb rubber and fibre particles exit via a screw conveyor system for dewatering 42, separation 44, and storage of the fibres at store 46. The crumb rubber is stored in bins 48 after having been collected in a surge bin 50, transferred to a dryer 52 and classified through a screen 54. An example of apparatus suitable for this further ultra high pressure water system 40 is illustrated in Figure 4.

After separation of the side walls and beads from the residual carcass of the tyre in stage 40, the carcass is transferred to a third ultra high pressure water jet stage 56. In this stage, the carcass, usually comprising the reinforcing steel belt wires, is totally disintegrated by the action of the ultra high pressure water jets. The remnants of the residual steel belt wires are removed by magnetic separation in the separation unit 58 following which the steel material is combined with the steel beads at store 60 for sale as high grade steel scrap.

Whilst only a small amount of rubber is obtained from this final ultra high pressure water stage 56 and is separated in the dewatering means 62, ultimately combining with the side wall rubber in dryer 52 via surge bin 64, the majority of the steel content is recovered in this stage.

The two dewatering means 42 and 62 are preferably vibrating dewatering screens which would remove most of the water from the material leaving the ultra high pressure water stages 40 and 56. This reduces the load on the dryer 52 and also allows the recovering and recycling of the water after filtration, for use in each of the ultra high pressure water stages 40 and 56. The dryer 52 is preferably a gas fired fluidised bed dryer capable of a throughput of at least 2% to 3 tonnes per hour which dries the crumb rubber ready for packaging. Material exiting the dryer 52 is preferably elevated by a screw conveyor to discharge into the vibrating screen 54 which, in this embodiment, separates the material into two size ranges each passing into a respective surge pin by gravity prior to weighing at stage 66 packing at stage 68 and storage at stage 70.

Each of the three ultra high pressure water jet processing stages 34, 40 and 56 preferably have their own dedicated systems employing a special intensity pump unit generating a system pressure in the order of 35000 psi. The jets which are fitted in the special rotating heads are preferably made from sapphire.

The method of transporting the crumb rubber in particular is preferably by screw conveyors through the various downstream stages. Furthermore, due to the use of an inclined screw conveyor after each ultra high pressure water jet stage, dewatering of the product may be accomplished to a satisfactory level prior to drying without the need for further dewatering equipment.

The separation conducted at stage 44 of textile fibres from the resilient crumb rubber after the disintegration of the side wall in ultra high pressure water stage 40, may be accomplished by air separation or possibly by an elutriation column after the drying stage. An elutriation column may prove to be preferable in some instances due to the comparatively large particle size range for the crumb rubber produced from side walls in combination with reasonably short lengths of fibre produced.

Illustrated in Figures 3a and 3b is apparatus suitable for use in the ultra high pressure water stage 34 of Figure 2. Illustrated is an enclosed apparatus 70 having a mild steel enclosure 72 surrounding two rotating shafts 74 each bearing waste tyres 76. Each tyre 76 is secured to shafts 74 by way of adjustable grips 78.

Ultra high pressure rotating jets 80 are configured adjacent the tread portion of the tyre 76, with the head of the jet being enclosed in cowling 82. The jets 80 are mounted on a longitudinal linear track 84 via a track traveller 86, and have an adapter 88 to suit the horizontal rotating system and an offset drive and swivel 90 for the UHP jets. The jets are supplied at 92 by water at about 35000 psi and have hydraulic flow and return lines 94 and 96 respectively and a vacuum return line 98.

While it is not clearly illustrated in this figure, an ultra high pressure jetting system is provided on each side of the apparatus in order to be able to operate on tyres located on each rotating shaft 74. This operation will be better described below.

Figure 3b better illustrates the preferred arrangement of a series of tyres located along the rotating shafts 74, each shaft capable of being operated upon by the UHP jets 80 as they move along the longitudinal linear track 84. Also evident is the drain gully 100 which allows the exiting of the used water to be utilised for subsequent filtration and recycling.

In use, the apparatus as illustrated in Figures 3a and 3b is loaded with tyres sorted according to size, the tyres being fitted on the hydraulically rotating central shafts 74 with the expanders 78 gripping the tyres at the inner bead or rim. The number of tyres loaded at any one time depends upon tyre weight and size and also on the size of this apparatus.

On commencement of tyre rotation, the linear track 84 equipped with the hydraulically rotating UHP water jets 80 at rotational speeds of about 1500 RPM and with water pressures in the 35000 psi range, moves at a constant speed predetermined by the tyre size and tread thickness, removing the tread rubber on all of the rotating tyres on one of the shafts 74 in one pass. Whilst this operation is in progress the second shaft of the apparatus may be loaded.

After the first pass is completed, a cross over switch may activate the second linear track similarly equipped with UHP jets which commences to remove tyre tread on the second shaft of tyres. Whilst this operation is in progress the first batch of tyre carcasses may be removed and another batch loaded. This operation may thus be constantly repeated, and each linear track may operate in both directions there thus being no necessity to retrack after each pass.

When this apparatus is working, both the water and rubber particles rebound and travel at significant velocities and thus the cowling 72 is utilised, together with the minor cowling 82. The minor cowling 82 is also fitted with a low pressure vacuum extraction system 98 to collect in excess of 80% of all rubber particles for transfer to filtration or drying systems. An intermittent low pressure spray system may also be included within this apparatus to ensure that all residual rubber not collected by vacuum is washed to the collection gully 100 and pumped or gravity fed to the filtration or drying systems.

Illustrated in Figure 4 is apparatus suitable for the ultra high pressure water stage 40 utilised to separate the side walls and beads from the remaining tyre carcass. This apparatus includes external cowling 102 having a tyre carcass 104 loaded vertically therein. A drive roller 106 and spring loaded idler rollers 108 and 110 rotate the tyre carcass about its axis while two short linear trackers 112, having a capacity for angular adjustment, and being fitted with rotating UHP jets 115 similar to that discussed above, remove firstly the steel beading 114 and secondly the side wall 116 of the tyre.

All residual rubber steel and fibre from the side walls preferably falls into a collection hopper below and is then transferred to the various drying and separation units prior to packing.

It will be noted from the illustration in Figure 4 that the carcass includes exposed steel braid 120 already having had the rubber tread removed therefrom. Illustrated in Figure 5 is an ultra high pressure water jet system suitable for use at stage 56 (illustrated in Figure 2) and responsible for the total disintegration of the residual carcass of the tyre after processing in stages 34 and 40. The residual carcass 122, being in the form of essentially a continuous steel belt, mainly of steel wire bonded by thin layers of rubber with a thin inner rubber layer, without tread rubber, side walls or beads, is transferred to the apparatus by chain link conveyor 24.

A double rotating UHP water jet 126 progressively destroys the carcass when held between adjustable tyre support means

128 within protective cowling 130. The support means 128 may be of any suitable type for adequately holding or supporting the carcass as necessary. The residue resulting from the destruction of the carcass is caught on grid 132 for transfer via the conveyor 134 as metal scrap 136 for collection in store 60 (as illustrated in Figure 2) . The remaining material that passes through grid 132 is collected in catchment facility 138 and transferred via outlet 140 for dewatering, drying and addition to the crumb rubber obtained from other stages in the process.

It is to be understood that the embodiments illustrated in Figures 1 to 5 are not to be unduly limiting upon the generality of the invention described above. In particular, the configuration of apparatus employed will most likely vary in accordance with many circumstances, such as the product mix required, the separation techniques chosen and process economics. However, it will be observed from the above description that substantially all tyre constituents may be recovered through employing the method according to the invention and furthermore that effectively no waste byproducts need be generated by the process.

Claims

THE CLAIMS defining the invention are as follows:-

1. A method of reclaiming rubber and other constituents from used tyres having a reinforced tread portion, the method comprising removing the rubber from the tread portion down to substantially the reinforcement therein by using ultra high pressure fluid jets and subsequently converting the residual tyre constituents to a form suitable for recovery of said constituents.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the rubber is removed from the tread portion while the tyre is rotated about its axis.

3. A method according to claim 2 wherein the tyre includes a pair of axially spaced coaxial beads and the rotation of a tyre about its axis is thus also rotation of the tyre about the axis of the beads.

4. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein further ultra high pressure fluid jets are also used to convert the residual tyre constituents to the form suitable for their recovery.

5. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the residual tyre constituents are subjected to a single operation where said further ultra high pressure fluid jets are used to fragment all of the constituents concurrently to produce a pulp material capable of being subsequently subjected to cleaning and classifying operations.

6. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the residual tyre constituents undergo separate operations to firstly separate the individual components and then to process those components to create the desired products, the individual components being the sidewalls, the beads (if present) and the residual carcass.

7. A method according to claim 6 wherein following removal of the rubber in the tread portion by a first stage of ultra high pressure jets, a second stage of ultra high pressure water jets are used to separate the beads from the side wall and then to separate the side wall from the residual carcass.

8. A method according to claim 6 or claim 7 wherein the residual carcass is subjected to a third stage further action of ultra high pressure water jets to convert the residual carcass to a pulp form.

9. A method of reclaiming rubber and other constituents from used tyres having a reinforced tread portion comprising reinforcing steel and tread rubber, sidewalls and a pair of axially spaced coaxial beads, the method comprising: rotating the tyre about its axis and removing the tread rubber from the reinforced tread portion down to substantially the reinforcing steel by using a first stage of ultra high pressure fluid jets to provide removed tread rubber and a tyre carcass embodying the reinforcing steel, the sidewalls and the beads; subjecting the tyre carcass to a second stage of ultra high pressure fluid jets to successively remove the beads and the sidewalls, leaving only a residual carcass of reinforcing steel bound by thin layers of rubber; subjecting the residual carcass to a third stage of ultra high pressure fluid jets to disintegrate the residual carcass to a pulp; and, drying and separating the subsequently obtained tread rubber, sidewalls, beads and pulp to form rubber products and steel products.

10. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 adapted to be provided in a mobile form.

11. A method according to claim 1 substantially as herein described in relation to the accompanying drawings.

12. A method according to claim 9 substantially as herein described in relation to Figures 2 to 5.

13. Apparatus for reclaiming rubber and other constituents from used tyres in accordance with the method of any one of claims 1 to 12, said apparatus including a first ultra high pressure water jet stage including at least one rotatable elongate shaft for receiving used tyres, ultra high pressure rotating jets configured to be capable of hydromilling the tread rubber from the tyre, a longitudinal linear track for mounting the jets thereon, external cowling for enclosure of the stage and a vacuum extraction system for the extraction of a substantial amount of removed tread rubber and water.

14. Apparatus according to claim 13 wherein two rotatable elongate shafts are provided, each having corresponding jets and linear tracks.

15. Apparatus according to claims 13 and 14 further including a second ultra high pressure water jet stage for removing the sidewalls and beads of the tyre carcass, said second ultra high pressure water jet stage including drive and idler rollers for supporting and rotating the tyre carcass, two short linear tracks having mounted thereon ultra high pressure rotating jets capable of successively removing the beads and the sidewalls while concurrently fragmenting the sidewalls and capable of being adjusted angularly if necessary, and an external cowling enclosing the stage.

16. Apparatus according to any one of claims 13 to 15 further including a third ultra high pressure water jet stage for disintegrating the residual carcass, said third ultra high pressure water jet stage including one double rotating ultra high pressure water jet capable of randomly disintegrating the residual carcass when held within an adjustable tyre support, integral separating means for separating the fine rubber remnants and the steel, and an external cowling for enclosing the stage.

17. Apparatus according to claim 13 substantially as herein described in relation to Figures 3a and 3b.

18. Apparatus according to claim 15 substantially as herein described in relation to Figure 4.

19. Apparatus according to claim 16 substantially as herein described in relation to Figure 5.