Developing a Greener Tire: Protein-Activated Rubber Curing

Emily Berg, Rachel Taitano, Alison Waldman

Advisors: Dr. Justin Barone and Barbara DeButts
Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA

Introduction Results Final Design Solution

Tire processing accounts for approximately
60% of the rubber market. In typical curing
recipes, zinc oxide (ZnO) and stearic acid
(STE) are used to activate the curing
reaction. However, zinc oxide has been seen
to have toxic effects in regards to both
human and environmental health. It has
been proposed that gliadin, a component
protein of wheat gluten, may be able to
replace ZnO and STE as an activator in the Figure 1. Molecular Figure 2. Characterization of crosslink
rubber curing reaction. structure of gliadin densities from swelling experiments

Research Objective
Create a SuperPro model for industrial tire rubber production
that utilizes wheat gluten in place of conventional activators
(e.g. zinc oxide and stearic acid) to cure rubber more
sustainably, while maintaining the physical properties of a
Figure 4. SuperPro model of industrial tire rubber production using the wheat gluten protein, gliadin, as the curing
traditionally cured tire rubber. activator

Design Considerations Figure 3. Characterization of curing

kinetics using DSC Conclusions and Future Work
Criteria
• Replace standard rubber curatives with gliadin in the tire rubber Economic Analysis ● Tire rubber cured with gliadin as the activator
vulcanization process
and meeting ASTM standards was designed
Table 2. Conventional vs. gliadin-based tire rubber production material costs
● Material design was implemented in SuperPro
• Final product must possess equivalent material properties to Material phr Amt. (kg/yr) Cost (USD/kg) Total cost (USD) and found to be economically feasible with
rubber cured with standard synthetics Conventional rubber curing package material costs cheaper than in conventional tire
Constraints Sulfur 8 149,760 0.4 59,904 rubber
• Manufacturing process and final developed product should be TBBS 2 37,440 3.0 112,320 ● Future work: determine curing mechanism using
environmentally friendly and non-hazardous to human health Zinc oxide 5 93,600 4.0 374,400 gliadin through additional samples, implement
• Curing rates using wheat gluten proteins should be similar to that Stearic acid 2 37,440 0.9 33,696 material design on industrial scale
using standard synthetic chemicals Cis-1,4-polyisoprene -- 1,872,000 2.0 3,744,000
• Final process should be economically feasible Total production cost $4,324,320 Acknowledgements
• Proposed reaction should be carried out at the same reaction Gliadin-activated rubber curing package
We thank our advisors, Dr. Justin Barone and
conditions, using installed and available equipment Sulfur 8 149,760 0.40 59,904
Barbara DeButts, for their help and support
Standards TBBS 1.92 35,942 3.00 107,827
throughout this project. We also thank the Biological
Cis-1,4-polyisoprene -- 1,872,000 2.00 3,744,000
Table 1. ASTM E-1136 standards for tire tread compounds Systems Engineering Department at Virginia Tech.
Gliadin 8 149,760 0.19 28,455
Parameter Value
Total production cost $3,940,186 References
Tensile sheet cure at 160°C 15.0 minutes
Total equipment costs for both rubber production processes is expected to be
Stress at 300% elongation 11.4 ± 1.0 MPa ASTM. (2014). E1136-14: Standard specification for P195/75R14 radial standard reference test tire. West
$4,171,000 based on the proposed SuperPro design. Substituting gliadin for Conshohocken, PA: ASTM Int.
Tensile strength 15.2 MPa standard curatives decreases total production cost, generating $41.68 in
Gliadin. National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Compound Database, U.S. National Library of
Medicine. Retrieved from pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/17787981

Restored energy (rebound or resilience) 39 ± 2% revenue per unit produced given that each unit costs $7.25 to produce.
NIOSH. (1993). Special NIOSH Hazard Review. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/93-106/default.html