Despite technological developments, modern methods for the disposal of end-of-life tires most often involve either their incineration in cement kilns or the destruction of tires in special landfills, demonstrating a lack of sustainable recycling of this valuable material. The fundamental role of recycling is evident, and the development of high-efficiency processes represents a crucial priority for the European market. Therefore, the investigation of end-of-life rubber processing methods is of high importance for both manufacturers and recyclers of rubber materials. In this paper, we review existing methods for processing of end-of-life tires, in order to obtain rubber crumb, which can later be used in the production of new industrial rubber goods and composites. We consider processes for separating end-of-life tires into fractions (in terms of types of materials) using chemical, mechanochemical, and mechanical methods to process the materials of used tires, in order to obtain crumb rubber of various fractions and chemical reactivities.

The utilisation of industrial residual products to develop new value-added materials and reduce their environmental footprint is one of the critical challenges of science and industry. Development of new multifunctional and bio-based composite materials is an excellent opportunity for the effective utilisation of residual industrial products and a right step in the Green Deal’s direction as approved by the European Commission. Keeping the various issues in mind, we describe the manufacturing and characterisation of the three-component bio-based composites in this work. The key components are a bio-based binder made of peat, devulcanised crumb rubber (DCR) from used tyres, and part of the fly ash, i.e., the cenosphere (CS). The three-phase composites were prepared in the form of a block to investigate their mechanical properties and density, and in the form of granules for the determination of the sorption of water and oil products. We also investigated the properties’ dependence on the DCR and CS fraction. It was found that the maximum compression strength (in block form) observed for the composition without CS and DCR addition was 79.3 MPa, while the second-highest value of compression strength was 11.2 MPa for the composition with 27.3 wt.% of CS. For compositions with a bio-binder content from 17.4 to 55.8 wt.%, and with DCR contents ranging from 11.0 to 62.0 wt.%, the compressive strength was in the range from 1.1 to 2.0 MPa. Liquid-sorption analysis (water and diesel) showed that the maximum saturation of liquids, in both cases, was set after 35 min and ranged from 1.05 to 1.4 g·g ⁻¹ for water, and 0.77 to 1.25 g·g⁻¹ for diesel. It was observed that 90% of the maximum saturation with diesel fuel came after 10 min and for water after 35 min.

In an era of rapidly growing consumer demand and the subsequent development of production, light materials and structures with a wide range of applications are becoming increasingly important in the field of construction and mechanical engineering, including aerospace engineering. At the same time, one of the trends is the use of perforated metal materials (PMMs). They are used as finishing, decorative and structural building materials. The main feature of PMMs is the presence of through holes of a given shape and size, which makes it possible to have low specific gravity; however, their tensile strength and rigidity can vary widely depending on the source material. In addition, PMMs have several properties that cannot be achieved with solid materials; for example, they can provide considerable noise reduction and partial light absorption, significantly reducing the weight of structures. They are also used for damping dynamic forces, filtering liquids and gases and shielding electromagnetic fields. For the perforation of strips and sheets, cold stamping methods are usually used, carried out on stamping presses, particularly using wide-tape production lines. Other methods of manufacturing PMMs are rapidly developing, for example, using liquid and laser cutting. An urgent but relatively new and little-studied problem is the recycling and further efficient use of PMMs, primarily such materials as stainless and high-strength steels, titanium, and aluminum alloys. The life cycle of PMMs can be prolonged because they can be repurposed for various applications such as constructing new buildings, designing elements, and producing additional products, making them more environmentally friendly. This work aimed to overview sustainable ways of PMM recycling, use or reuse, proposing different ecological methods and applications considering the types and properties of PMM technological waste. Moreover, the review is accompanied by graphical illustrations of real examples. PMM waste recycling methods that can prolong their lifecycle include construction technologies, powder metallurgy, permeable structures, etc. Several new technologies have been proposed and described for the sustainable application of products and structures based on perforated steel strips and profiles obtained from waste products during stamping. With more developers aiming for sustainability and buildings achieving higher levels of environmental performance, PMM provides significant environmental and aesthetic advantages.

High strength fibres of carbon, boron, silicon carbide, tungsten, and other materials are widely used to reinforce metal matrix composite materials. Carbon and boron fibers are usually used to reinforce light alloys based on aluminum and magnesium. Products made from these materials are characterized by high strength and rigidity and can be used for a long time. Technological waste containing such fibres are hazardous to the environment because they are durable and have needle-like and other sharp shapes. Therefore, they must be disposed of with extreme care. A significant incentive for the processing and reuse of waste composites of this type is the relatively high cost of production of the primary fibre and the material as a whole. With the increase in the production of such materials in recent years, the need to recycle composite waste is becoming increasingly important. Three main options for primary processing are used to prepare composites for their subsequent use. They are mechanical, thermal, and chemical grinding technologies. One of the actual and practical areas of processing technology is the method of powder metallurgy. This paper presents the main stages of processing composite materials based on an aluminium matrix and B-W fibres to obtain powder compositions. The results of the studies showing the possibility of the effective use of the obtained crushed waste to manufacture concrete products and the production of cutting and grinding tools are presented.

Among the various methods for collecting oil spills and oil products, including from the water surface, one of the most effective is the use of sorbents. In this work, three-component bio-based composite granular adsorbents were produced and studied for oil products’ pollution collection. A bio-based binder made of peat, devulcanised crumb rubber from used tyres, and part fly ash as cenospheres were used for absorbent production. The structure, surface morphology, porosity, mechanical properties, and sorption kinetics of the obtained samples were studied. Composite hydrophobicity and sorption capacity to oil products, such as diesel fuel (DF) and motor oil (MO), were determined. The obtained pellets are characterised by a sufficiently pronounced ability to absorb oil products such as DF. As the amount of CR in the granules increases, the diesel absorption capacity increases significantly. The case of 30-70-0 is almost three times higher than the granules from homogenised peat. The increase in q is due to two factors: the pronounced surface hydrophobicity of the samples (Θ = 152°) and a heterogeneous porous granule structure. The presence of the cenosphere in the biocomposite reduces its surface hydrophobicity while increasing the diesel absorption capacity. Relatively rapid realisation of the maximum saturation by the MO was noted. In common, the designed absorbent shows up to 0.7 g·g⁻¹ sorption capacity for MO and up to 1.55 g·g⁻¹ sorption capacity for diesel. A possible mechanism of DF absorption and the limiting stages of the process approximated for different kinetic models are discussed. The Weber–Morris diffusion model is used to primarily distinguish the limiting effect of the external and internal diffusion of the adsorbate on the absorption process.

The aim of this study is to obtain high performance boron containing material with sufficient carrying capacity with increased porosity and lower density at the same time. The influence of the different concentrations of Al-W-B powder on the properties of the fresh and hardened HPC was investigated. In the concrete mix design, the allite containing White Portland cement CEM I 52,5 R, granite stone, sand, microsilica, on polycarboxylates based super plasticizer and Al-W-B powder were used. As a source of boron composite material (CM), previously grinded powder containing boron-tungsten fiber and aluminium matrix (CM Al-W-B) was used. Grinding was used for processing of CM Al-W-B powder