I misunderstood. Cement is just one component of concrete, but they're commonly substituted for each other. Every state (and the Feds) have their own engineering standards for roadways, and unfortunately the process here is subject to lobby influence....
DING DING DING. The asphalt and cement lobbyist also play a part in it. They don't want anyone reducing their product line use by 18%.
If they were smart (and yes I spend more time than I care to calculate getting to the high end profit managers in these) they would realize that tires can be treated like any other part of their raw materials), they simply make it part of their production formula.
A little bit of science first. An open flame fire of tires as shown in the videos is filthy and colder than Option B.
Option B. Reduce the oxygen content, raise the burn temperature and tires offer 30% more BTU by weight than coal, burns 25% cleaner and is cheaper than coal. Of course the coal industry does not want that to be discussed but that is the facts.
Cement kilns (another BIG customer) have used tire chunks to blend with coal fired cement kilns, to save money. They have learned that they can blend this, control the burn and raise the temperature. It A) Saves them cost on fuel and B) burns hottern than the coal thereby requiring less, C)it burns cleaner than straight coal and is compliant with clean air standards for coal based burners well into the next few years.
At the moment, and I'm not necessarily supporting it, Trump is keeping coal in play thereby tire chunks in play as fuel additives for the same above reasons.
What I was just able to help accomplish last Sept. was to get Tx level legislation passed that will allow us to burn tire chunks in 100% capacity for any coal fired burner, as part of a clean up effort. I am presently seeking approval for re-opening 2 small closed power plants that were shuttered due to coal fired boilers. Burn 100% tire chunks as a demonstration of how to do a clean up of large amounts of tires. Burn it cleaner than coal, and clean up a big environmental problem at the lowest cost option. And a side benefit is we produce power that the state is struggling to produce enough of. If I get nothing more than these 2 plants online, they will be burning illegal tire dump tire stock for about 8 years before I ever get close to worrying about where to find more fuel.
To help get this accomplished the cement kiln owners (HUGE CORPS) also supported this legislation. Because they are starting to see the $$ in tires and the future of coal. I think coal is dying, but right now everyone will burn the crap out of it because Trump has given it a reprieve for now.. And if my experiment to burn 100% proves to work ( we already know it works in Europe), they will replace coal with 100% tire based fuels. Europe has been doing this for years, Cali is doing it in some parts and now we have the opportunity to grow it.
