"Rubber-modified asphalt is less expensive than any other modified asphalt, and state transportation departments are using it more," Mr. Blumenthal said. "The question now is how long this will be sustained. Will they continue to use rubber-modified asphalt if the economy changes?"
The rubber-modified asphalt industry held many workshops across the U.S. during 2013 to familiarize stakeholders with the substantial performance benefits of their product, according to Mr. Gust.
"When rubber is used in roads, it provides improved performance, is quieter, provides a safer surface and actually costs less," he said. "It is easy to understand why it is currently being used or evaluated in over 35 states."
Technology improvements in rubber-modified asphalt will make the material even more desirable, according to Mr. Gust.
"Crumb rubber suppliers are recognizing that in order to increase the use of rubber in roads, the supplier needs to reduce the obstacles for use on the part of the contractor," he said. "A technology that could blend the rubber polymer prior to delivery would greatly reduce the contractor's cost.
"In 2014, this blending technology will grow and assist the contractors in expanding the use of rubber in roads."
Pyrolysis potential?
Among other technologies, Messrs. Gust and Blumenthal were split on the potential for pyrolysis, the technology of breaking scrap tires down into their component oil, carbon and steel.
"The cost to capture the raw material was simply more expensive than the sale of those captured materials could bring on the open market," Mr. Gust said.
"Today, the technologies have significantly improved, the manufacturing costs have been reduced and the market prices for carbon and oil have significantly increased," he said.
On the other hand, Mr. Blumenthal said the economics still aren't there to make pyrolysis a commercial proposition.
"The steel comes out clean, with very little oxidation," he said. "There's a good market for the steel, but in and of itself it won't make pyrolysis viable. It's only 10 percent of the weight of a tire."
The gas produced by pyrolysis can be fed into the system to power it, according to Mr. Blumenthal. But the char produced by the process has never met American Society for Testing & Materials standards for carbon black, and the oil is equivalent to waste oil, he said.
"The question about pyrolysis is not whether it works — it does," Mr. Blumenthal said. "The question is, 'Where are the markets, and will the economics work?'"
Devulcanization questions
For similar reasons, Mr. Blumenthal was not sanguine about the prospects devulcanization.
"You can certainly break down the sulfur bonds in rubber, but Goodyear told me that's only Phase One," he said. Phase Two is separating the different types of rubber that comprise a tire.
"It's like separating the tomato juice out of V8 (vegetable juice)," he said. "If you figure out how to do that, you could conceivably commercialize devulcanization, but so far as we know, no one has done that."
Regarding state scrap tire laws, Mr. Gust said he thinks many state governments are recognizing that they must enforce the laws on their books, rather than raiding state scrap tire funds to replenish state general funds.
Mr. Gust praised Georgia Rep. Randy Nix, who introduced and passed legislation that closed loopholes in Georgia's scrap tire laws. "This action will save Georgia taxpayers millions of dollars in future scrap tire cleanups," he said.
Mr. Blumenthal said he expected little scrap tire-related activity among state governments in 2014.
A scrap tire bill will almost certainly pass in Colorado, the state facing the worst problems with stockpiled scrap tires, but it will probably be three years before the provisions of the Colorado bill take effect, he said.
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