NEW LIFE
FOR RUBBER

REGENERATION

The selection of materials and regenerative processes management are the key to being able to create a finished product that is reliable and comparable to those produced exclusively with virgin rubber. The regeneration process has been refined over the years in the Oldrati R&D departments to ensure that the physical characteristics of the rubber do not undergo variations. Today, this regeneration process allows the rubber almost infinite regenerative cycles.

Ogreen regenerated rubber is single-component and represents the raw material which, together with other elements and a percentage of virgin material, gives shape to the finished article. Precisely for this reason, to make the raw material moldable and therefore reusable, the rubber goes through a thermo-mechanical process of devulcanization, bringing the material back to its virgin condition.

Ogreen can be used 99% to produce new components, depending on the specific performance required by the customer. Oldrati’s goal will be to transform approximately 1200 tons of “waste” rubber into a low environmental impact compound in 2021.

The result of research and technological innovation is guaranteed by the Group’s management of the entire production chain, from the mixing of raw materials to surface treatments, passing through the creation of molding equipment. The Ogreen compound is achievable only thanks to the in-depth know-how acquired in the company’s 57 years history and through a highly integrated internal organization from the study of the elastomer compound, to the manufacture of the molds up to the final processing. Ogreen production process begins with the selection of vulcanized rubber; scraps and wastes from standard production, which otherwise would have to be sent to landfill. The management of the material contributes enormously to the quality of the regenerated compound and the finished product. Over the years, the Oldrati R&D department has refined the regeneration process based exclusively on thermal and mechanical treatments over the material avoiding

the use of chemical treatments; then through the eco-mastering phase, the rubber is regenerated and brought to a pre-vulcanization stage. The next step is the actual creation of Ogreen: based on the performance required by the technical article, the compound can contain a variable percentage of regenerated rubber while the remaining part can be combined with specific ingredients. The production of the new technical article can therefore follow the classic methodologies (molding, extrusion …) respecting the production specifications defined  during the design phase.
Oldrati Ogreen is able to guarantee comparable performances to those obtained from products with virgin raw materials. The governance of the entire process, from selection to regenerative treatment up to the compound production, allows full control over all the phases of the process to maintain the characteristics of the rubber unaltered and fitting to technical requirements.

«We are working on the next phase; the goal is to have a consortium of international industrial companies, we are opening a new actor to make the circular economy of elastomers a reality at global level».  

                                                                                                            Manuel Oldrati  – CEO Oldrati Group

Oldrati has integrated the principles of sustainability into its business processes and has long started the Ogreen project, aimed at realizing a virtuous circle of rubber reuse. For example, in a washing machine there are from 800 to 1200 grams of rubber components; instead of being dispersed in the environment, delivered to landfills or burned in waste-to-energy plants, rubber could return to being raw material and component for new appliances. For our future, we have the ambition to create a new industry model and to create, in collaboration with institutions and some of the major world brands, a waste equipment collection and treatment system with the aim of recovering material from end-of-life products. Today, Oldrati Ogreen expresses the great experience of the past in the management of materials and processes, and the challenge of a more sustainable future.