17-year-old from Kyiv invents new eco-friendly technology for tire recycling

A 17-year-old student of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute Andrii Mavrin has developed a new technology for environmentally using tires.

What is the problem?

In most countries, the problem of tire recycling is no longer urgent. Since, on average, only about a third of tires are recycled globally, then in Europe, for example, more than 80%. However, the topic remains relevant because of some methods' jewel and non-ecological nature.

What is the solution?

For several years, Andrii has not abandoned the idea in the future to launch production for the environmental disposal of rubber tires in the Kyiv region.

The average tire lasts four seasons, after which it must be changed. However, there are no factories in Kyiv that would safely recycle tires. This is a rather expensive and complex process, which is not profitable at the output.

How does it work?

Andrii began to work with his teacher on technology, which consists of destroying the tire on the rubber crumb due to the resonance phenomenon.

"In simple words, we froze the tires in liquid nitrogen and decomposed (or we can say" broke ") into crumbs during vibration at the resonant frequency of the oscillation. That's it. The obtained raw materials can be used, by the way, for making new tires or covering sidewalks with rubber slabs, "the student explained.

They presented this technology at the All-Ukrainian competition "Future of Ukraine." Andrii presented it at seven international competitions in Poland, Tunisia, Croatia, Romania, Switzerland, etc. For his achievements, Andriy became a laureate of the President's Scholarship, which is annually awarded to the best representatives of Ukrainian students.