Bolder Industries receives Colorado grant

Boulder, Colorado-based Bolder Industries has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the Waste Tire Market Development Fund of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

At its Maryville Carbon Solutions (MCS) facility in Missouri, Bolder Industries makes products from end-of-life tires, including Bolder Black, which it describes as a carbon black alternative that can exceed performance expectations in some applications. Carbon black is a powder processed from heavy petroleum that reinforces rubber products and is used primarily in tires.

Bolder Industries indicates it will use the funds to develop specialty applications for Bolder Black in rubber goods by creating and testing custom compounds that offer unique performance characteristics. Such compounds can allow rubber manufacturers to develop new products or improve existing ones, according to the firm.

“We now have empirical evidence that Bolder Black delivered a new level of performance across a wide variety of rubber goods, which is a first in the reclaimed carbon world,” says Tony Wibbeler, CEO of Bolder Industries. “This means we have a solid market advantage and the ability to collaborate with rubber industry partners to reach new and exciting places.”

Carbon black reclaimed from tires has mostly been viewed as a sustainable and cost-effective substitute in rubber and plastics manufacturing, the company indicates in a news release. However, Bolder Industries claims it has now demonstrated performance benefits from the use of its carbon black alternative in custom compounds used to make several rubber products, including conveyor belts, fluid industry diaphragms, agriculture harvesting equipment and forklift tires.

Bolder Industries indicates it expects to complete the funded research effort in early 2018 and will then bring its new compounds to manufacturers of rubber hoses, belts, diaphragms, roofing materials, non-passenger tires and black masterbatch pigment additives.