[The online version of the research paper cited below was placed on the American Chemical Society's ASAP (As Soon As Publishable) web site on Oct. 9. The site is designed for journal subscribers and not open to the general public. Journalists desiring access to the site must submit their requests in writing to n_blount@acs.org in the ACS Office of News & Information.]

Environmentally Friendly Tires

If you stacked all the stockpiled and landfilled waste tires in the U.S. on top of each other, they would reach the moon. Lay them end to end and they would encircle the globe more than 140 times. An environmental nightmare. Researchers in Illinois see the huge tire supply as a resource to help clean the air of fossil fuel pollutants.

Writing in the November issue of the scientific journal Energy and Fuels, a joint research team from the University of Illinois and the Illinois State Geological Survey reports that activated carbon made from discarded tires can be used to remove fossil fuel pollutants from smokestack emissions. The peer-reviewed, bimonthly journal is published by the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

The report is part of a special issue of the journal highlighting research on adsorbents and catalysts for clean energy and emissions control. Team members include Mark Rood, Ph.D., of the university's Urbana-Champaign campus, Massoud Rostam-Abadi, Ph.D., with the Geological Survey, and graduate student Christ Lehmann.

There are 2 to 3 billion waste tires in this country, either stockpiled or in landfills, and at least 240 million more are being added each year, according to a 1993 estimate by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "Tire rubber could potentially be an ideal material to make activated carbon since it is inexpensive, it has a high carbon content, and it has low ash and sulfur contents," claims Rood. Most other resear
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Contact: Marv Coyner
m_coyner@acs.org
202-872-4460
American Chemical Society
20-Oct-1998