Ohio company freezes tires to make mulch

VANDALIA, Ohio — Ask what sets Dayton Crumb Ltd. apart, and you'll get a frosty answer.

Using shredded tires as mulch or ground cover isn't new. But Jerry Mercer, chief executive of Dayton Crumb, believes his firm's approach to preparing tires is unique.

"We're the only ones who do this cryogenically," Mercer said.

The company applies liquid nitrogen to tires before shredding them. (Eric Eide, who designed the process, prefers the term "disintegrating.") The freezing allows tires' constituent parts — rubber, metal, fabric — to be separated and re-used. The result is CryoMulch, which the company touts as metal-free, odorless, durable and environmentally safe.

Eide discovered the process 17 years ago while building grinders. He applied nitrogen to a batch of test tires and saw the possibilities.

"There was a great benefit to freezing," Eide said. For one thing, freezing kept the temperature of tire material down, lowering the heat of the material being pulled apart and preventing fires, Eide said. For another, freezing makes material brittle, making it easier to break apart.

Tires are fed into a computer-controlled disintegrator — a U-shaped system about 60 feet by 20 feet — via a conveyor. First, dust is removed through an air separation system. Another unit pulls wire from the tire material. Metal is stripped out.

The result is materials — metal, nylon bands, rubber and more — that can be resold with no resulting waste, the company says.

"It makes us a very green company," Mercer said.

The company moved to its home on Lightner Road in March. The summer was spent installing disintegration equipment, and Mercer expects CryoMulch production to start in spring 2008.

About Dayton Crumb

Where: 3520 Lightner Road, Vandalia, Ohio

Who: Four employees

What: Disposal of scrap tires and oil

Contact: (937) 474-5751

Facts: Each year, the United States leaves some 300 million scrap tires accumulating. More than two billion tires await disposal.

Source: Dayton Crumb