Sustainable Development Goals
PROJECT INFORMATION AT A GLANCE:
Project Status:
Pilot initiated 2010; feasibility completed 2011; operational
Organizations Involved:
Klean Industries, Confidential Customer
Services / Equipment:
Feasibility Studies, Due Diligence, Supply Chain Management, Carbon Management
What if the rubber backing from yesterday’s carpet tiles could become a carbon ingredient in tomorrow’s flooring? Our early project with a global modular-flooring customer explored a more ambitious route than conventional carpet collection: separate reusable fibers, combine difficult rubber residues with tire rubber, recover carbon through thermal processing, and return that carbon to the supply chain as a potential filler and pigment for new carpet-tile backing.
The commercial significance is not merely diverting two waste streams. It is designing recovered materials around a manufacturer with a known product, an identifiable specification and a potential route back to market. We initiated the pilot in 2010 and completed a feasibility study in 2011. The project account describes further recovery and product-use outcomes; its public record does not quantify commercial production volumes or establish the current operating scope.
A carpet tile’s surface fibers, polymer components and rubberized backing cannot simply be processed together and expected to yield a consistent new flooring ingredient. Each stream needs a recovery path and a buyer able to use the output.
A global modular-flooring manufacturer approached we seeking a technically and economically workable route to greater circularity. The task was to recover useful materials from spent carpet tiles and, crucially, deal with the rubber backing that can frustrate closed-loop ambitions. Separating fibers was only part of the challenge: the recovered carbon needed to return as a usable manufacturing input, not simply be described as recycled char.
Klean and project partners developed a two-part materials strategy.
The product specification, not the mere presence of carbon, determines whether the loop closes. Consistent particle properties, composition, dispersion and performance in the customer’s backing formulation determine whether recovered carbon can replace a portion of fossil-derived carbon black. Those requirements and the economics of separation, logistics and co-processing must be evaluated together.
Our published project account reports recovered fibers being reintroduced into modular flooring and recovered carbon being used as a sustainable filler and pigment in new carpet-tile backings. It also describes recovery of energy-rich oil and gas streams, and a project objective of zero waste to landfill.
The case presents an estimated reduction of more than 2 tonnes of CO₂ per tonne of rCB produced, compared with its stated disposal/virgin-material baseline. This is a project-level estimate; the public account does not provide the underlying methodology, production quantity, assessment boundary or independent verification. It should not be represented as issued carbon credits or a guaranteed result.
The most distinctive outcome is the commercial architecture: design a recycling process around a defined industrial user, recover two different material fractions for two distinct applications, and create a pathway from difficult industrial waste into a new manufactured product. Our pilot and feasibility work helped establish that route; the exact scale of subsequent deployment and current operational status remain matters for the project record.
1. The buyer can be built into the project design.
A flooring manufacturer’s own backing specification gives the recovered-carbon stream a more concrete market objective than an undifferentiated char sale.
2. Two difficult streams can support one materials strategy.
Fiber recovery retains value in carpet manufacturing while co-processing backing and tire rubber targets a separate carbon input for the next generation of flooring.
3. The carbon case must be made on the correct basis.
An estimated saving of more than 2 tonnes of CO₂ per tonne of rCB, but the project’s feedstock mix, yield, quality and assessment boundary matter to any commercial or emissions claim.
These are selected achievements and lessons. Additional technical, commercial and customer-qualification insights are available through an agreed engagement with Klean.
For flooring manufacturers, compounders, tire processors and investors, the opportunity is to connect waste recovery to a real materials specification and an identified destination. We can evaluate feedstock separation, integrated co-processing, rCB upgrading, manufacturing applications and supply-chain requirements before capital is committed to a full installation. New equipment developments follow our paid DEQ → DFS → FEED pathway; pilot, advisory and feasibility assignments are scoped according to the work required.
Discuss Your Circular Carpet and Recovered Carbon Project with Klean >> GO.
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ABOUT THE INFORMATION PRESENTED
This case describes our historical carpet-tile recovery and tire-rubber co-processing program. Product applications and carbon benefits are stated on the basis of our published project account; additional operating results, customer specifications and commercial records are subject to the relevant engagement and confidentiality arrangements.
This project addresses the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by considering the goals and associated targets illustrated by the WBCSD’s Tire Industry Project (TIP). TIP provides a framework for action that outlines impactful pathways for the tire sector to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To learn more about how our approach, solutions, and technologies contribute to advancing the SDGs, please review the report “Sustainability Driven: Accelerating Impact with the Tire Sector SDG Roadmap”.
