Tyres turned into graphene now making concrete stronger

Recycled tyre waste can be turned into graphene to make stronger concrete.

Rice University scientists in the United States have optimised a process to convert waste from rubber tyres into graphene that can, in turn, be used to strengthen concrete.

The environmental benefits of adding graphene to concrete are clear, chemist James Tour says.

“Concrete is the most-produced material in the world, and simply making it produces as much as 9% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions,” he says.


Recycled tyre waste is already used as a component of Portland Cement, but graphene has been proven to strengthen cementitious materials, concrete among them, at the molecular level.

While the majority of the 800 million tyres discarded annually worldwide are burned for fuel or ground up for other applications, 16% of them wind up in landfills.

“Reclaiming even a fraction of those as graphene will keep millions of tires from reaching landfills,” Tour says.



Rubber proved more challenging than food or plastic to turn into graphene, but the lab optimised the process by using commercial pyrolyzed waste rubber from tyres.

After useful oils are extracted from waste tyres, this carbon residue has until now had near-zero value, Tour says.

Tyre-derived carbon black or a blend of shredded rubber tyres and commercial carbon black can be flashed into graphene. Because turbostratic graphene is soluble, it can then easily be added to cement to make more environmentally-friendly concrete.

Previous articleWorkplace employers need to provide good vaccine info
Next articleExotic forestry scores highly