Hamid Arastoopour in Chemical Engineering has developed and patented technology for processing scrap rubber from tires in an extruder. This technology breaks the chemical bonds that result in the... Show moreHamid Arastoopour in Chemical Engineering has developed and patented technology for processing scrap rubber from tires in an extruder. This technology breaks the chemical bonds that result in the rubber being vulcanized. This allows the rubber to be reformed into new shapes and re-vulcanized resulting a true recycling of the material into new rubber parts. Most other rubber recycling technology only grinds up the rubber. These technologies allow the rubber to be used as a filler but does not allow true recycling of the rubber. There is a tremendous supply of used tires are a significant environmental problem as well as waste of a potential resource. This technology could provide the means to effectively use this waste. This project is continuing from the Spring 03 Semester. The Spring class has identified 10+ applications where the crumb rubber technology developed at IIT can be used, and two or three applications that are evolving as new crumb rubber applications. As part of their Business Plan, they've sought input from potential users of crumb rubber and competition regarding the crumb rubber characteristics required within each of these applications and the size of these respective applications in pounds of crumb rubber and dollar value for the last three years and the future three years. The end product of this effort will be the identification of the prime crumb rubber applications. The Fall IPRO team will be responsible for more detailed analysis of the prime crumb rubber application opportunities, with emphasis on determining the size/past and future growth of crumb rubber use within these key applications and the market share of competition within two categories of market entry. Once the prime applications are quantified and qualified in terms of their potential, the class would have to determine the optimum penetration strategy for this crumb rubber technology:1) One approach could be the sale of crumb rubber manufacturing equipment, utilizing this crub rubber technology2) A second entry option is to produce crumb rubber, selling to the users within each of these prime applications. A sub-alternative within this entry option is to continually move the manufacturing facility producing crumb rubber to those states supporting this manufacturing, where they seek to eliminate the excess number of spare tires being dumped into those states.To gain a meaningful penetration of these crumb rubber applications, based on the strenghs and weaknesses of the IIT technology, a detailed marketing plan will have to be developed, which will result in the optimum penetration within these applications. Once the optimum option for this crumb rubber technology is determined, based on each application's penetration scenario, a detailed analysis regarding the profit and loss of a manufacturing facility serving one or both options is required. A Business Plan supporting these analyses will then be prepared, followed by the solicitation of the necessary funding from venture and/ or angel sources. Show less
