company that manufactures micronized rubber powders mrp . based in atlanta georgia lehigh technologies operates a mrp manufacturing plant at its headquarters with an annual production capacity of more than 100 million pounds . lehigh also operates a mrp research and development facility its application & development center . lehigh technologies type private industry specialty chemicals founded 2003 headquarters atlanta georgia area served worldwide key people alan barton ceo products micronized rubber powder number of employees 50 100 website lehightechnologies.com contents 1 history and growth 2 research and development 3 operations 3.1 asia 3.2 south america 3.3 europe 4 investors 5 technology 5.1 products 5.2 third generation technology 6 sustainability 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history and growth edit lehigh technologies has been manufacturing mrp at its commercial plant since 2007 . according to lehigh the company has demonstrated steady growth since it began manufacturing mrp at commercial scale . 1 in 2010 lehigh was selected as a technology pioneer by the world economic forum wef . 2 the awards program recognizes companies from around the world that are involved in the design development and deployment of new technologies that are set to have a significant impact on business and society . in june 2011 lehigh announced that more than 100 million tires on the road had been manufactured using the company s mrp . 3 in 2014 the company announced that more than 250 million tires produced to date had incorporated mrp . 4 research and development edit in november 2010 lehigh expanded its in house capabilities with the launch of the application & development center adc a dedicated research and development facility staffed by a team of industry professionals . the stated mission of the adc is to develop new applications for mrp and to accelerate adoption of existing mrp applications by improving understanding of mrp chemistry providing expert advice for new material formulations that incorporate mrp and developing new materials based on mrp . 5 in january 2014 lehigh announced an expansion of its adc that includes the hiring of new technical staff and investment in new mixing and analytical equipment . according to lehigh this expansion improves the adc s ability to develop functional materials based on mrp . 6 operations edit in addition to its production facility in atlanta lehigh has developed a network of partners and distributors . asia edit lehigh partnered with connell brothers corporation cbc the largest distributor of specialty chemicals and ingredients in asia pacific to market its mrp in japan in 2014 lehigh announced an expanded partnership with cbc aimed at broadening industry outreach supply chain efficiency and technical support in japan as well as introducing mrp to south korea and southeast asia . 7 in september 2014 lehigh announced the closing of an 8 million fundraise with jsr corporation a 4 billion specialty chemicals company based in japan to support the company s geographic expansion and technology roadmap for mrp in the region . 8 south america edit in october 2011 lehigh expanded into brazil with the appointment of a country manager . 9 in december 2012 lehigh announced a partnership with andes chemical corporation to market mrp in central america . 10 europe edit in september 2012 lehigh partnered with hera holding a spanish waste to resource company to market mrp to the tire consumer and industrial plastics and coatings industries in europe . 11 investors edit since 2008 lehigh has raised more than 50 million from investors that include kleiner perkins caufield & byers index ventures leaf clean energy and ngp energy technology partners . 12 13 technology edit main article micronized rubber powder lehigh has commercialized a proprietary cryogenic turbo mill technology that transforms end of life tires and post industrial rubber materials into micronized rubber powders . lehigh produces mrp from vulcanized elastomeric material most often end of life tire material . however it can also be produced from post industrial nitrile rubber ethylene propylene diene monomer epdm butyl and natural rubber compounds . products edit lehigh s mrps are available in two product lines polydyne and microdyne . industries incorporating mrp into their products include tire automotive construction industrial components and consumer products . it is also used as an additive in tires plastics asphalt coatings and sealants . mrp can also be incorporated into prime or recycled grade polypropylene pp high density polyethylene hdpe and nylons . additionally the incorporation of mrps in thermoplastic elastomers tpe and thermoplastic vulcanizates tpv makes it a feasible ingredient for automotive and building and construction applications . the particle size distributions of lehigh s mrp typically range from 830 m 20 mesh to 50 m 300 mesh and its mrp is free of foreign particulates such as metal and fiber . 14 third generation technology edit lehigh claims that its cryogenic turbo mill technology represents an evolution over previous post manufactured rubber technologies . the most common rubber processing technology converts end of life tire and post industrial rubber material into rubber chips that are typically one inch or larger in size . these chips are then used in tire derived fuel and civil engineering projects . a second generation processing technology converts end of life tire and rubber material into crumb rubber also known as ground tire rubber gtr . gtr typically comprises chips between one inch and 30 mesh in size with the associated fiber and steel mostly removed . this material is used in asphalt as garden mulch and in playgrounds . because of the material s smaller size lehigh markets its micrometer scale mrp as a third generation rubber processing technology . mrp s size and composition enables it to be incorporated into advanced and higher value applications . 15 sustainability edit lehigh s mrp is used as a compound extender to replace natural rubber and synthetic polymers as well as to act as a process aid in material production . lehigh claims that because it replaces commodity priced rubber and oil based feedstocks mrp can reduce formulation costs . the company has asserted that mrp can offer up to 50 percent cost savings over virgin raw materials in some cases . 16 because it is derived from end of life materials mrp can also improve the sustainability and in some cases the performance of the compounds in which it is used . for example lehigh has stated that the smaller particle sizes of mrp increase the impact strength of certain plastic compositions . 17 however in all applications the particle size and loading levels depend on the target application . see also edit micronized rubber powder speciality chemicals references edit st. john jeff 21 august 2012 . lehigh raises 16m for freeze dry tire recycling . greentech media . retrieved 30 may 2014 . list of technology pioneers 2010 . world economic forum . retrieved 30 may 2014 . lehigh technologies reaches milestone of 100 million tires manufactured using polydyne micronized rubber powder . sets target of 1 billion . . lehigh technologies . retrieved 30 may 2014 . welch mary 24 january 2014 . rubber powder supplier gains traction with global sales green solution . global atlanta . retrieved 30 may 2014 . lehigh launches its application & development center . lehigh technologies . retrieved 30 may 2014 . lehigh invests in mixing equipment hires tech manager . rubber news . 21 january 2014 . retrieved 30 may 2014 . de guzman doris 25 march 2014 . connell brothers partners with lehigh technologies . green chemicals blog . retrieved 30 may 2014 . dorbian iris 3 september 2014 . lehigh technologies nabs 8 mln . pe hub . retrieved 8 september 2014 . lehigh technologies expands into brazil . rubber news . 25 october 2011 . retrieved 30 may 2014 . lehigh strikes latin american distribution deal with andes . icis news . 11 december 2012 . retrieved 30 may 2014 . burger andrew 27 september 2012 . sustainable rubber products destined for european markets . triple pundit . retrieved 30 may 2014 . fehrenbacher katie 23 june 2008 . kleiner index invest 34.5 m in rubber recycler lehigh . gigaom . retrieved 30 may 2014 . karkaria urvaksh 20 july 2012 . lehigh technologies raised 5m from green tech venture firm . atlanta business chronicle . retrieved 30 may 2014 . coren michael j. 20 december 2012 . tires are being turned into the newest renewable resource all it takes is some freezing and fine chopping . fast company . retrieved 15 july 2014 . what is micronized rubber powder . lehigh technologies . retrieved 30 may 2014 . why use micronized rubber powder . lehigh technologies . retrieved 30 may 2014 . valk vincent 7 june 2014 . lehigh technologies specialty chemicals from scrap . ihs chemical week . retrieved 15 july 2014 . external links edit official website kleiner perkins caufield byers www.kpcb.com . lehigh technologies kleiner perkins caufield byers . kpcb.com . retrieved 31 may 2014 . lehigh technologies at crunchbase j. richard willis ; clayton plemons ; pamela turner ; carolina rodezno ; tyler mitchell 8 october 2012 . effect of ground tire rubber particle size and grinding method on asphalt binder properties pdf . retrieved 28 june 2014 . j. richard willis ; clayton plemons ; tyler mitchell 20 december 2013 . effect of ground tire rubber particles on open graded mixture performance pdf . retrieved 28 june 2014 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title lehigh technologies & oldid 723243480 categories rubberrecyclinghidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured 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