Chemical recycling of waste tire in high-temperature organic fluid

The inadequate treatment of waste tire is currently a major environmental and economical issue. In this study, the effective solubilization of waste tire into diethyl ether was attained by the thermal treatment in organic solvent at 200–300 °C. Not only aromatic, but also aliphatic alcohols were effective on the solubilization. Among aliphatic alcohols, 1-heptanol was the most effective solvent on the solubilization and reached near 70% in the thermal treatment at 200 °C under inert atmosphere. Model compound study containing sulfur–sulfur bond suggests the disulfide–alcohol exchange reaction leading devulcanization of the waste tire.