Smooth EPDM profiles with blends of recycled carbon and carbon black

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a solid granule. The method may include introducing recycled carbon particles (or granules) and virgin carbon black particles (or granules) as separate raw materials into a mill, then grinding the recycled carbon and virgin carbon black together to obtain a ground mixture, then wet granulating the ground mixture to obtain wet solid granules, and finally drying the wet solid granules to obtain dry solid granules. The invention further relates to the formed solid granules and a method for forming profiles, such as EPDM profiles, using the solid granules of the present invention.

Description

Title of the invention: Smooth EPDM profiles with mixtures of recovered carbon and carbon black

[0001] CONTEXT OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates to methods of manufacturing EPDM profiles with recycled carbon or recovered carbon (rC) and to EPDM profiles produced thereby. The present invention further relates to methods of manufacturing solid granules of rC and carbon black.

[0003] There is increasing demand and effort in the field of recycling materials in order to prevent materials from being disposed of in landfills and to avoid further depletion of natural resources.

[0004] End-of-life vehicle tires are frequently processed and reused in a wide range of end-use applications, from playground equipment to concrete. However, it is desirable to recycle tire components to obtain materials that can be combined with first-use materials to reduce the amount of new material needed to manufacture new products.

[0005] There is a growing need for more sustainable materials and a reduced carbon footprint in different industries, including the weatherstripping industry. Recovered carbon (rC) obtained by pyrolysis of end-of-life tires can be used to improve the circular content of EPDM weatherstripping compounds. However, unlike virgin carbon black, rC can be quite difficult to properly disperse in the rubber matrix due to its inferior filler-rubber interaction and / or ash residues and / or other reasons. The undispersed rC aggregates and ash residues lead to obvious defects on the surface of extruded EPDM profiles, which are undesired by automotive OEMs and end users and essentially make the use of rC commercially unfeasible. Therefore, it has been difficult to develop high surface quality EPDM weatherstripping with rC.There is a need in the weatherstripping industry and other industries to address these issues and provide solutions so that rC can be incorporated into products, such as rubber profiles, hoses, and diaphragms. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION .

[0006] A feature of the present invention is to provide methods that utilize recovered carbon in the formation of pellets.

[0007] An additional feature of the present invention is to provide the ability to utilize recovered carbon without interfering with the ability to produce industrially acceptable products, such as EPDM profiles.

[0008] Another feature of the present invention is to provide methods for making recovered carbon a more viable material for use as a quality filler material in applications such as EPDM profiles and the like.

[0009] Another additional feature of the present invention is to enable the recovered carbon to disperse properly in a polymer matrix and / or to reduce or avoid defects, such as surface defects, in EPDM profiles and the like due to large agglomerates of undispersed rC.

[0010] Further, a feature of the present invention is to provide methods for treating recovered carbon, such that the particles in combination, for example, with virgin carbon black, can have comparable filler properties, such as, but not limited to, acceptable dispersion compared to using 100% virgin carbon black.

[0011] An additional feature of the present invention is to provide a solid pellet (e.g., a co-pellet) that contains at least recovered carbon as well as virgin carbon black.

[0012] To achieve these and other advantages, and in accordance with the objectives of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the present invention relates, in part, to a method of manufacturing a solid granule. The method comprises the steps of feeding reclaimed carbon particles and / or granules, and feeding virgin carbon black particles and / or granules as separate charges to a mill (the same mill), and then grinding a) the reclaimed carbon particles and / or granules and b) the virgin carbon black particles and / or granules together to obtain a ground mixture. The method further comprises wet granulating the ground mixture to obtain wet solid granules and drying the wet solid granules to obtain dry solid granules.

[0013] The present invention further relates, in part, to a method of manufacturing an EPDM profile (e.g., a film). The method comprises the steps of mixing at least one EPDM polymer with a plurality of solid granules to form an EPDM formulation, and extruding the EPDM formulation to form one or more profiles. The solid granules comprise at least a ground mixture of reclaimed carbon particles and virgin carbon black particles.

[0014] Further, the present invention relates, in part, to a solid pellet that comprises at least a mixture of reclaimed carbon particles and virgin carbon black. Recovered carbon particles can have a D90 in the range of < 10 microns to < 20 microns, and virgin carbon black particles can have a D90 in the range of 0.30 microns to 1.0 microns.

[0015] It is to be understood that the above general description and the following detailed description are given solely by way of example and explanation and are intended to provide further explanation of the present invention according to the claims.

[0016] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate various features of the present invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] [Fig.l] are enlarged images of three extruded strips. A) The first extruded strip is made using only virgin carbon black as the carbon black component, B) The second extruded strip is made using a mixture of recovered carbon powder and virgin carbon black (weight ratio of 10:90), and C) The third extruded strip is made using the solid pellet of the present invention (10:90 weight ratio of recovered carbon to virgin carbon black in the pellets).

[0018] [Fig.2] is a graph showing the number of surface defects on the extruded strips shown in A), B) and C) of [Fig.l].

[0019] [Fig.3] is a bar graph representing the volume resistivity of the extruded strips shown in A), B) and C) of [Fig.l]

[0020] [Fig.4] is a diagram showing an example of installation in a factory for manufacturing the solid granules of the present invention.

[0021] [Fig.5] is a graph showing the number of surface defects on the extruded strips produced in Example 2.

[0022] The figures are not to scale and are provided as simplified views and do not necessarily represent all possible embodiments or components that may be present. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0023] The present invention relates, in part, to a method for manufacturing a solid granule. The method comprises, essentially consists of, consists of, or comprises introducing a) recovered carbon particles and / or granules and b) introducing virgin carbon black particles and / or granules as separate charges into a mill, then grinding the recovered carbon particles and / or granules and the virgin carbon black particles and / or granules together to obtain a ground mixture, then wet granulating the ground mixture to obtain granules wet solids, and then drying the wet solid granules to obtain dry solid granules.

[0024] The solid pellet being manufactured is a solid pellet that comprises, consists essentially of, consists of, or includes a combination of ground recovered carbon and ground virgin carbon black.

[0025] In the context of the present invention, the term "virgin carbon black particles" and the term "recovered carbon particles" are sometimes used, but it should be understood that one or both of the particles being introduced into the mill may optionally be in the form of granules.

[0026] The feed of recovered carbon and the feed of virgin carbon black to the mill are controlled to obtain a desired amount by weight of each component. In the mill, the recovered carbon may be present in an amount of 1% by weight to 50% by weight, and the virgin carbon black may be present in an amount of 50% by weight to 99% by weight, based on the total weight of particles in the mill.In other examples, the recovered carbon may be introduced such that the amount in the mill is an amount of 5 wt% to 20 wt%, and the virgin carbon black is present in an amount of 80 wt% to 95 wt%, based on the total weight of the particles in the mill, or the recovered carbon may be present in an amount of 5 wt% to 15 wt%, and the virgin carbon black may be present in an amount of 85 wt% to 95 wt%, based on the total weight of the particles in the mill, or the recovered carbon may be present in an amount of 10 wt% to 15 wt%, and the virgin carbon black may be present in an amount of 85 wt% to 90 wt%, based on the total weight of the particles in the mill, or any two values ​​based on any two values ​​described herein.

[0027] The recovered carbon and virgin carbon black may be in a dry state when introduced into the mill for grinding. The moisture content in each case may be less than 2% by weight based on the weight of the particles.

[0028] Optionally, the moisture content of one or both of the recovered carbon or the virgin carbon black may be greater than or equal to 2% by weight.

[0029] Optionally, the recovered carbon or virgin carbon black or both may be in a wet state when introduced into the mill for grinding, for example, 65 wt% to 90 wt% or 70 wt% to 85 wt%, or 70 wt% to 80 wt% moisture or aqueous or water content, based on the weight of the wet particles. The wet state may result in a suspension of one or both of the particles introduced into the mill.

[0030] The introduction of the recovered carbon and the virgin carbon black may be carried out at the same time or at about the same time, or may be sequential or in any order. If necessary, the recovered carbon and virgin carbon black charges can be combined before being introduced into the mill.

[0031] The grinding may be any type of grinding that has the ability to reduce the size of the solid particles and / or to disintegrate the particles. The grinding may be dry grinding. Or alternatively, the grinding may be wet grinding. Examples of acceptable grinding types include, but are not limited to, impact grinding, pin grinding, pneumatic classification grinding, fine impact grinding, jet grinding, or ball milling. The mill used to perform the grinding is commercially available, and the manufacturer's settings on the mill may be used. For example, the hammer mill may be obtained from suppliers such as Prater, Williams, Hippo, and Schutte. The particles may be subjected to a single grinding stage or multiple grinding stages.If more than one grinding stage is used, each grinding stage may be the same or different from each other with respect to the type of grinding and / or one or more grinding parameters (e.g., grinding time).

[0032] Optionally, in this method, some or all of the virgin carbon black may be introduced directly from one or more carbon black production lines. The carbon black production line (e.g., a carbon black production facility or a carbon black furnace) may be adjacent to the mill(s) or located elsewhere in the facility, or be in an adjacent facility. When the virgin carbon black is fed directly from one or more carbon black production lines, the virgin carbon black may have been recently produced (e.g., produced 1 minute to 12 hours or more after being introduced into the mill, or 5 minutes to 6 hours, 5 minutes to 3 hours, 5 minutes to 1 hour, 10 minutes to 30 minutes).

[0033] Virgin carbon black, for example from recent production, may have a particle temperature ranging from 25°C to 200°C, for example from 100°C to 200°C. This particle temperature may be an average temperature (for example, determined by measuring the temperature of 1 kg of virgin carbon black in a container).

[0034] The virgin carbon black fed to the mill may be any grade of carbon black. The carbon black may be furnace carbon black or other types of carbon black.

[0035] The virgin carbon black particles may be of any ASTM grade of carbon black. The virgin carbon black may be or include ASTM N100 series to N900 series carbon blacks, e.g., N100 series carbon blacks, N200 series carbon blacks, N300 series carbon blacks, N500 series carbon blacks, e.g., carbon blackN550 series carbon blacks, N600 series carbon blacks, N700 series carbon blacks, N800 series carbon blacks or N900 series carbon blacks. Carbon blacks marketed under the Regai®, Black Pearls®, Spheron®, Sterling® and Vulcan® brands available from Cabot Corporation, the Raven®, Statex®, Furnex® and Neotex® brands and the CD and HV ranges available from Birla Carbon (Columbian Chemicals), and the Corax®, Durax®, Ecorax® and Purex® brands and the CK range and other carbon blacks available from Orion Engineered Carbons and other fillers suitable for use in applications such as polymer, film, rubber or tire applications, may also be exploited for use with various embodiments. Carbon blacks may be chemically functionalized.Suitable chemically functionalized carbon blacks include those described in WO 96 / 18688 and US2013 / 0165560,. .

[0036] The virgin carbon black may have a statistical thickness surface area (STSA, ASTM D6556) of at least about 15 m2 / g, e.g., about 15 m2 / g to about 240 m2 / g, e.g., about 35 m2 / g to about 230 m2 / g, about 50 m2 / g to about 200 m2 / g, about 60 m2 / g to about 180 m2 / g, about 100 m2 / g to about 200 m2 / g.

[0037] Carbon blacks having any of the above specific surface areas may further have a structure, as indicated by the Compressed Oil Adsorption Index for Carbon Black (COAN, ASTM D3493), of about 50 to about 115 ml / 100 g, for example, about 65 to about 75 ml / 100 g, about 60 to 95 ml / 100 g, about 75 to about 85 ml / 100 g, about 85 to about 95 ml / 100 g, about 95 to about 105 ml / 100 g, or about 105 to about 115 ml / 100 g.

[0038] Any mixtures of these carbon blacks may be used where appropriate.

[0039] Recovered carbon (the starting recovered carbon that is fed into the mill) or rC, such as rC aggregates, is commercially available. Typically, rC aggregates are derived from the pyrolysis of tires and / or other rubber materials that contained filler materials or reinforcing materials, such as carbon black. The rC consists primarily of carbon black that has been used to reinforce rubber. The rC may contain organic volatiles. The rC may contain a char. Preferably, the rC used, although not required, contains volatiles and / or a char that are below 5 wt%, or below 3 wt%, or below 1 wt% (e.g., 0.1 wt% to 4.9 wt%) based on the weight of the rC. The rC may be treated recovered carbon, recovered carbon having been treated to remove or substantially remove at least one macroscopic contaminant such as fabric or yarn. Recovered carbon may be commercially available from suppliers such as Reoil Sp. z oo, Scandinavian Enviro Systems AB, Pyrum Innovations AG, CBp Cyprus Ltd. or Bolder Industries. Recovered carbon may be in granulated or non-granulated form.

[0040] The recovered carbon may be processed to remove macroscopic contaminants. For example, magnetic separation techniques known to those skilled in the art may be used to remove metal wires and other macroscopic metal contaminants. Filters or screens may be used to remove fabrics and other non-magnetic macroscopic contaminants.

[0041] Alternatively or additionally, the recovered carbon may be treated to remove ash, for example by washing the recovered carbon with an acid or by means of an ion exchanger. Exemplary methods are described in US20150307714, CN101357758 and WO2021 / 005124.

[0042] For example, the starting recovered carbon pellets may have a D50 of 0.5 mm to 2 mm, preferably 1.0 mm to 1.5 mm. Other D50 sizes above or below this range may be used. The rC fed to the mill may be in pellet form. The rC fed to the mill may be in non-pelletized form (aggregate form or particulate form). The rC fed to the mill may have a D90 (non-pelletized form) of greater than or equal to 10 microns, or greater than or equal to 20 microns, for example.

[0043] Optionally, the rC introduced into the mill (whether in granular form, non-granular form or particulate form) may have a D50 that is greater than or equal to 0.5 mm.

[0044] With respect to the wet granulation step, this step may comprise, consist essentially of, consist of or comprise mixing the ground mixture with an aqueous solution and optionally at least one binder, and then forming the wet solid granules. The amount of aqueous solution may be such that a weight ratio of about 1 to 1 (of liquid to ground mixture) is obtained. This weight ratio may vary relative to the liquid and / or relative to the ground mixture by ± 5% or ± 10% or ± 20%, depending, for example, on the surface area of ​​the different components. For example, wetting the ground mixture for granulation may create a wet cake or wet sand consistency.

[0045] To granulate the ground mixture of particles, in a mixer, a spray nozzle may wet the particles with a binding agent or binder, such as water, toluene, mineral oil, or the like. The mixer mixes the binding agent and the particles into a substantially homogeneous mixture that agglomerates (or clumps) into granules. The granules may then be dried to a content in particular moisture content, for example less than 2% by weight or less than 1% by weight. By reducing the moisture content of the granules, the method of the present invention can prevent the introduction of unwanted moisture into the polymer or rubber mixture which can contribute to gas emissions (or outgassing) which may be emitted.

[0046] Any densification or granulation method known to those skilled in the art may be used. For example, the methods of U.S. Patent No. 2,065,371 to Glaxner may be used. Generally, the wet-milled mixture is formed into beads, which may then optionally be dried to reduce the water content to at most 1% to form blended carbon pellets. In addition to the water already present in the wet-mixed carbon mixture, a wide variety of binder additives are known to be useful in the wet-granulation process to further improve the handling characteristics of the resulting pellets.Such additives include, but are not limited to, hygroscopic organic liquids such as ethylene glycol, carbohydrates (e.g., sugar, molasses, soluble starches, saccharides, lignin derivatives), rosin, anionic sulfonate and sulfate surfactants, nonionic fatty amine ethoxylate surfactants, sodium lignosulfonates, silanes, sucrose, alkyl succinimides, alkyl succinic esters, and polyethylene-co-polydimethylsiloxane oxide surfactants. Alternatively or additionally, the granules need not be dried and may be used wet, in which case a binder may not be required. For example, wet pellets may have a moisture content of 15 to 80% by weight, for example 40 to 60% by weight.

[0047] The size of the formed granules may be any size. For example, the average size of the formed granules may be from about 1 mm to about 2 mm. The average size may be determined by measurement by mechanical filtration on a sieve according to ASTMD1514.

[0048] When one or more binders are used, the amount of binder may be an amount of 0 ppm to 4,000 ppm or 100 ppm to 4,000 ppm or 250 ppm to 3,000 ppm or 500 ppm to 3,000 ppm or 750 ppm to 2,500 ppm or 1,000 ppm to 3,000 ppm based on the total weight of the dry milled mixture.

[0049] The grinding of the particles may be such that the ground mixture may have a multimodal particle distribution with the major peak mode of the carbon black being 50 to 200 nm, for example 100 to 175 nm, and the major peak mode of the carbon black associated with the ground recovered carbon being 4 to 10 microns, for example 4 to 6 microns, as measured by light scattering.

[0050] Grinding the combination of recovered carbon and virgin carbon black may result in a size reduction of the recovered carbon to a greater extent than that of the virgin carbon black, based on a comparison of the initial size of the recovered carbon and the initial size of the virgin carbon black. For example, from grinding, the size of the recovered carbon may be reduced by at least 10%, at least 20%, at least 30%, at least 40%, at least 50%, at least 60%, at least 70%, at least 80%, at least 90% based on the starting average or D50 size of the starting recovered carbon. The size of the virgin carbon black may be reduced by at most 10%, or at most 5%, or at most 1%.

[0051] Optionally, the recovered carbon particles are introduced into the mill in the absence of primary grinding or pre-grinding. In other words, the recovered carbon particles are not subjected to any size reduction step before being introduced into the mill. In this option, the recovered carbon is obtained, for example, from a supplier (e.g., in bulk form, in bags or bulk containers or IBCs) and introduced directly into the mill or discharged into a container and then introduced into the mill.

[0052] Optionally, the recovered carbon particles are introduced into the mill with pretreatment which may include, but is not limited to, sieving or screening or wetting or grinding or pre-grinding, or magnetic screening or any combination thereof.

[0053] The introduction of particles may be carried out using any apparatus. Examples include, but are not limited to, loss-in-weight feeders or silos, preferably provided with metering devices for metering the amount of each charge. The particles metered, for example, in this manner may then be combined with a conveying air stream by any means, such as an ejector device, which may create suction via a venturi effect as the conveying air passes through the ejector. The particles may be fed by other air conveying operations. Other conveying devices may be used, such as, but are not limited to, conveyor belts or screw feeders or other commercially available conveying devices known to those skilled in the art.

[0054] [Fig. 4] depicts an example of a plant configuration that may be used to manufacture the pellets of the present invention. Configuration 1 may involve the virgin carbon black manufacturing portion and the recovered carbon portion. For the virgin carbon black manufacturing portion, if the carbon black is manufactured nearby and used after formation (without bagging etc.), the materials 3 used to form the carbon black may be introduced through lines 5 to the carbon black reactor 7 along with the burner fuel. Once the carbon black carbon is formed and quenched, the carbon black can be transported to a filtration unit 9 with introduced air. Once filtered, the transport air 11, for example, can be used to transport the carbon black to a distributor 25. On the recovered carbon side, the rC can be transferred to a distributor 13 and with the introduced transport air 15, an ejector 17 can transfer the rC with air to a distributor 27. Each distributor 25 and 27 can be metered to introduce the desired amount of carbon black and rC into the mill 29 (e.g., a hammer mill or a grinder). After grinding, the ground mixture is transferred to a granulation and drying unit 31 and then introduced (e.g., by a screw distributor) 33 to units 35 and 37 for packaging and shipping.

[0055] The present invention further relates to the solid granule formed according to a method of the present invention.

[0056] The present invention further relates to a solid granule which comprises, consists essentially of, consists of, or includes a mixture of reclaimed carbon and virgin carbon black. Optionally, the solid granule of the reclaimed carbon particles and the virgin carbon black particles may have a D50 in a range of 0.5 mm to 2 mm. A D50 above or below this range is possible.

[0057] The recovered carbon particles and virgin carbon black are generally distributed uniformly in the pellet. The distribution can be considered as a homogeneous mixture.

[0058] Details of recovered carbon and virgin carbon black are described above and apply here as well.

[0059] The solid granules have a BET specific surface area, an ash content in %, a density and / or a moisture %. The properties of the solid granule may be characterized by comparing one or more of these properties to a solid granule made from 100% of the same carbon black alone, without any other differences (hereinafter identified as a "control granule"). From such a comparison, the solid granule of the present invention may exhibit one or more of the following characteristics: a. The BET specific surface area of ​​the solid granule increases by 1% to 15%, for example by 5% to 15% or by 0% to 15% compared to the control granule; b. The ash content (% ash) increases by 5 to 15 times or 10 to 15 times compared to the control pellet; c. The moisture content (% by weight) is the same, or about the same, or within 5% or within 1% of that of the control pellet; d. The density (g / l) increases by 1% to 5% or by 2% to 5% compared to the control granule; e. The ash content increases by 1 to 1.5 wt.% for every 5 wt.% of recovered carbon present in the solid pellet (e.g., a solid pellet with 0 wt.% rC has about 0.15 to 0.2%; a solid pellet with 5 wt.% rC has about 1.2 to 1.6%, and a solid pellet with 10 wt.% rC has about 2.2 to 3%, and a solid pellet with 15 wt.% rC has about 3.3 to 4%).

[0060] As indicated, the solid granule of the present invention may further comprise a binder. Examples of binders have been described previously. The binder may be present in an amount of 1 ppm to 4,000 ppm or 50 ppm to 4,000 ppm or 100 ppm to 3,000 ppm.

[0061] As indicated, the solid granule of the present invention may have an average size of about 0.5 mm to about 2 mm or about 1 mm to about 2 mm or sizes greater or less than this range.

[0062] The solid granule of the present invention may have a moisture content of less than 2% by weight, or less than 1.5% by weight, or less than 1% by weight, or less than 0.5% by weight relative to the weight of the solid granule.

[0063] The solid pellet may contain recovered carbon particles present in an amount of 1 wt% to 50 wt% (e.g., 1 wt% to 45 wt%, 1 wt% to 40 wt%, 1 wt% to 35 wt%, 1 wt% to 30 wt%, 1 wt% to 25 wt%, 1 wt% to 20 wt%, 1 wt% to 15 wt%, 1 wt% to 10 wt%, 1 wt% to 5 wt%, 2.5 wt% to 50 wt%, 5 wt% to 50 wt%, 10 wt% to 50 wt%, 15 wt% to 50 wt%, 20 wt% to 50 wt%, or any range based on any two values ​​herein described), the % by weight being relative to the total weight of the granule.

[0064] The virgin carbon black particles may be present in an amount of 50 wt% to 99 wt% (e.g., 50 wt% to 95 wt%, 50 wt% to 90 wt%, 50 wt% to 80 wt%, 50 wt% to 70 wt%, 50 wt% to 60 wt%, 55 wt% to 99 wt%, 60 wt% to 99 wt%, 65 wt% to 99 wt%, 70 wt% to 99 wt%, 75 wt% to 99 wt%, 80 wt% to 99 wt%, 85 wt% to 99 wt%, 90 wt% to 99 wt%, 95 wt% to 99% by weight or any range based on any two values ​​described herein), the % by weight being relative to the total weight of the granule.

[0065] As a more specific example, the solid pellet may contain reclaimed carbon particles present in an amount of 5 wt% to 20 wt%, and virgin carbon black particles present in an amount of 80 wt% to 95 wt%. by weight, relative to the total weight of the solid granule, or the solid granule may contain the recovered carbon particles present in an amount of 5% by weight to 15% by weight, and the virgin carbon black particles present in an amount of 85% by weight to 95% by weight, relative to the total weight of the solid granule.

[0066] The solid granules of the present invention may have a granule hardness of about 30 grams to about 45 grams or 35 to 45 grams, as measured by ASTM D5230.

[0067] The present invention further relates to a method of manufacturing an EPDM profile (e.g., a film or weather stripping). The method may comprise, consist essentially of, consist of, or comprise blending at least one EPDM polymer with a plurality of the solid granules of the present invention to form an EPDM formulation, and extruding the EPDM formulation to form the profile.

[0068] Examples of formulations may be as follows (with a % by weight relative to the total weight of the formulation):

[0069] EPDM polymer - from 15% by weight to 40% by weight.

[0070] Solid granules of the present invention - from 20 wt% to 40 wt% (e.g., from 15 wt% to 40 wt% or from 20 wt% to 40 wt%, or from 25 wt% to 40 wt% (based on the total weight of the formulation).

[0071] Other components that may generally be present in an EPDM formulation include, but are not limited to: a. inorganic fillers (e.g. calcium carbonate, talc, clay) in amounts ranging from 10 to 25% by weight; b. vulcanizates (e.g., zinc dibenzyl dithiocarbamate, N-cyclohexyl-2-benzothiazole sulfenamide, sulfur) in amounts ranging from 1 to 4% by weight; c. a plasticizer (e.g., paraffinic oil) in amounts ranging from 10 to 30% by weight; processing aids (e.g., polyethylene glycol) in amounts ranging from 0.1 to 1% by weight; drying agents (e.g., calcium oxide) in amounts ranging from 0.5 to 3% by weight.

[0072] The formulation may be mixed or combined using any mixing device, such as a blender.

[0073] The formulation may be extruded to form a profile using any type of extruder such as, but not limited to, a cold feed extruder, a hot feed extruder, or a co-extruder. The extruder may be a multi-zone extruder.

[0074] With the present invention, when the solid granules of the present invention are used in the process of forming an EPDM profile compared to the direct mixing of the same amount of virgin carbon black and separately recovered carbon not in the form of co-granules (same amount and same type of each of them), the number of surface defects on the profile can be decreased by at least 20%, at least 30%, at least 40%, at least 50%, at least 60%, or at least 70%. These results were considered unexpected and largely superior to the direct mixing of each component.

[0075] The present invention relates to EPDM profiles prepared with crystalline and amorphous EPDM. For the purposes of the present invention, crystalline EPDM, especially semi-crystalline EPDM, comprises EPDM having an ethylene content of at least 60% and a thermodynamic transition, for example a melting point or a crystallization point, at a temperature of at least 30°C.

[0076] Without wishing to be limited by any theory, it is believed that the solid granules of the present invention provide more homogeneous mixing and / or lower interaction between the ground recovered carbon particles compared to non-cogranulated direct blends. The virgin carbon black may serve in some way as a support for the recovered carbon and thus improve the dispersion of the recovered carbon in the polymer matrix, which may reduce surface defects in the extruded profiles.

[0077] The present invention further relates to an EPDM profile having a low number of surface defects. The surface defects are measured based on the test method described in the examples. In the test, an EPDM profile is manufactured by extrusion to form a strip having a thickness of 1 mm. A 165 cm2 section of the strip is analyzed to determine the number of surface defects for different defect sizes. With the present invention, the EPDM profile using the granules of the present invention in EPDM polymers having either a thermodynamic transition at a temperature below 30 °C or an ethylene content of less than 60 wt%, for example, in the EPDM formulation described in Example 1, has one or more of the following numbers of surface defects: 1) surface defect size from 80 to 100 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 250, for example from 100 to 250 or from 100 to 230. 2) surface defect size from 100 to 125 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 200, for example from 100 to 200 or from 100 to 150. 3) surface defect size from 125 to 150 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 100, for example from 25 to 100 or from 25 to 80. 4) surface defect size from 150 to 200 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 150, for example from 50 to 150 or from 50 to 125. 5) surface defect size of 200 to 250 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 50, for example 10 to 50 or 10 to 25. 6) surface defect size greater than 250 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 35, for example 5 to 35 or 5 to 25.

[0078] Alternatively or additionally with the present invention, the EPDM profile using the granules of the present invention in EPDM polymers having a thermodynamic transition at a temperature of at least 30°C and an ethylene content of at least 60% by weight, for example, in the EPDM formulation as described in Example 2, has one or more of the following numbers of surface defects, counted as described above: 1) surface defect size from 80 to 100 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 120, for example from 50 to 120 or from 50 to 90. 2) surface defect size from 100 to 125 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 70, for example from 25 to 70 or from 25 to 40. 3) surface defect size from 125 to 150 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 25, for example from 5 to 25 or from 5 to 20. 4) surface defect size from 150 to 200 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 25, for example from 13 to 25 or from 13 to 22. 5) surface defect size of 200 to 250 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 8, for example 3 to 8 or 3 to 6. 6) surface defect size greater than 250 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 11, for example from 3 to 11 or from 3 to 10.

[0079] The number of surface defects is measured on 1 mm thick extruded strips using an automatic optical inspection machine, for example, produced by manufacturers such as Pixargus, Suzhou Oi-Smart Technology Co. or OCS, Optical Control Systems. The camera scans the surface of the profile and automatically recognizes and measures the defects as contrast areas with the background with a line speed of 10 mm / s, a measuring field width of 28 mm and a pixel resolution of 7 microns. The scanned area for each profile is 165 cm2. With the present invention, the granules of the present invention, for example, using the formulations in the examples, can further be characterized as having the ability to achieve this property in EPDM profiles regarding one or more or all of these surface defect properties.

[0080] Furthermore, the present invention may further relate to an EPDM profile having one or more or all of these surface defect properties.

[0081] Further, the present invention relates to methods for achieving one or more or all of these surface defect properties using the granules of the present invention in the EPDM formulation which is then formed (e.g., extruded) into an EPDM profile.

[0082] With respect to any of these embodiments of the invention, one of the surface defect properties (either 1), 2), 3), 4), 5) or 6)) may be obtained, or at least two properties (e.g., 1) and 2), 1), 2) and 3), or 1), 2), 3), and 4), or 1), 2), 3), 4) and 5), or 2) and 3), or 3) and 4), or 4) and 5), or 5) and 6), or any other combination (e.g., two of properties 1) to 6), three of properties 1) to 6), four of properties 1) to 6), or five of properties 1) to 6) or all six properties).

[0083] The EPDM material made using the granules of the present invention may have the following characteristics and / or properties.

[0084] The EPDM may have an ethylene content that may range from 45% by weight to 85% by weight, for example from 50% by weight to 70% by weight (based on the weight of the EPDM material).

[0085] The pure EPDM polymer may have a Mooney viscosity of 20 UM to 150 UM (ML1+4 at 125°C), for example 40 to 100 UM and / or 20 UM to 150 UM (ML1+8 at 150°C), for example 30 to 90 UM.

[0086] EPDM may have a content of dienes such as ethylidene norbornene (ENB), dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) and / or 1,4-hexadiene (HD) of 0.5 wt% to 10 wt%.

[0087] Alternatively or additionally, the EPDM material (e.g., the cured profile) may have one or more of the following properties: Mooney Viscosity (ML1+4 at 100°C) = 40 to 100 UM (ASTM D1646); Hardness (Shore A) = 45 to 90 (ASTM D2240). 100% modulus (MPa) = 1 to 5 (ASTM D412, Method A). Modulus 300% (MPa) = 4 to 12 (ASTM D412, Method A). Tensile strength (MPa) = greater than or equal to 6-12 or 6-10 (ASTM D412, Method A). Elongation at break (%) = 250 to 550 (ASTM D412, Method A). Compression set (70 h at 23°C) = 0 to 40. (ASTM D345 Method B) Compression set (22 h at 70°C) = 0 to 55. (ASTM D395 Method B)

[0088] The particle size distribution may be measured using any suitable method, for example laser diffraction, known to those skilled in the art. Preferably, the particle size distribution is measured using scanning electron microscopy, for example, the scanning electron microscopy method described in more detail in the examples. Briefly, particles are dispersed at a concentration of 0.2% by weight in water with 600 ppm of Triton X 100 surfactant at low speed and then stirred for 24 hours. The dispersion is diluted to an appropriate concentration, filtered through a membrane filter, dried, sprayed with a conductive material, and imaged. Imaging is performed at high and low magnification to provide sufficient resolution to capture small particles while efficiently imaging large particles. Images are processed to minimize image background irregularities, increase particle contrast, and reduce image noise while preserving particle edges.The particle size distribution is determined by measuring Dcirc = 2 (projected image area / ir)1 / 2 over at least 50,000, typically 50,000 to 200,000 particles, at each magnification.

[0089] The granules according to the various embodiments of the present invention may be combined with EPDM and one or more optional additional elastomers to form elastomeric composites. The resulting elastomeric composite may comprise 80 to 200 phr of particulate filler, for example 100 to 190 or 120 to 180 or 140 to 175 or 150 to 170 phr of particulate filler. Examples of additional elastomers include a polyolefin elastomer (POE), a nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) and a hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber (HNBR). Such additional rubbers may improve the processability or chemical resistance of the EPDM profiles. For example, the granules may be combined with an elastomer to form a masterbatch, which is then combined with an additional elastomer of the same or different composition.Alternatively or additionally, at least two elastomers may be blended prior to mixing with the pellets. Alternatively or additionally, the elastomer composite may also contain one or more fillers in addition to the recovered carbon, including any of the particulate fillers listed elsewhere herein and any other fillers known to those skilled in the art for use in elastomer composites. Such fillers may be in a blend or pellet with the ground recovered carbon or may be added to the elastomer separately from any of the pellets according to the various embodiments of the present invention.

[0090] The elastomeric composite may further comprise additives to facilitate mixing, promote vulcanization or impart particular properties to a vulcanizate of the elastomeric composite. Many additives are well known to those skilled in the art and include, for example, adhesion promoters, antioxidants, antiozonants, coupling agents, curing agents, degradation inhibitors, plasticizers, processing aids (e.g., liquid polymers, oils, and the like), oily fillers, wax, resins, flame retardants, extender oils, lubricants, tackifiers, vulcanization activators such as zinc oxide and fatty acids, vulcanization accelerators, and any mixture thereof. Examples of additives include, but are not limited to, zinc oxide and stearic acid. The general use and selection of such additives are well known to those skilled in the art.

[0091] The dried granules may be combined with the elastomer as described above using any dry mixing method known to those skilled in the art.

[0092] Alternatively or additionally, the wet granules may be combined with an elastomer according to the teachings of one or more of US20220332016, WO2021247153, WO2022125679, WO2022125683, WO2022125677 and WO2022125675. For example, the wet granules and the elastomer in solid form may be charged into a mixer and mixed under conditions in which the temperatures are controlled to remove at least some of the water contained in the granules by evaporation. The elastomer is optionally pre-masticated before the introduction of the wet granules. The wet filler may be added all at once or in aliquots.

[0093] Any suitable mixer, such as a Banbury or Brabender mixer or other internal or closed mixer, or an open mixer, or an extruder or a continuous mixer or a kneader or a combination thereof, may be used to combine wet granules with an elastomer. Other mixers include a kneader-type internal mixer. Internal mixers marketed by Farrel-Pomini, Harburg Freudenberger Maschinenbau GmbH (HF), Kobelco or Pelmar Eng'r Ltd may be used. In addition to the possibility of using internal steam, water or other fluid circuits in the rotors, in addition or alternatively, the internal mixer may have cooling or heating jackets in a region or part or in several regions or parts of the mixing chamber to regulate the temperature of the components mixed therein.This may create one or more heating / cooling zones in a wall or wall portion of a mixer. The mixer may be a single-stage mixer or a multi-stage mixer (e.g., two or more stages). Examples of mixers and designs that may be used are described in European Patent No. 2423253B1 and US Patent No. 7,556,419.

[0094] Alternatively, the mixer may be a continuous mixer. For example, the solid elastomer and wet filler material may be mechanically worked using one or more continuous internal mixers, a twin screw extruder, a single screw extruder or a roller mill, such as those described in U.S. Patent No. 9,855,686 B2. Suitable kneading and masticating devices are well known and commercially available, including, for example, a Unimix continuous mixer and an MVX (mix, vent, extrude) machine from Farrel Pomini Corporation, Ansonia, Connecticut, a Farrel FCM™ continuous mixer, a Pomini, Inc. long continuous mixer, a Pomini continuous mixer, co-rotating twin rotor extruders with meshing, counter-rotating twin rotor extruders without meshing, continuous mixing extruders, the biaxial grinding extruder produced by Kobe Steel, Ltd. and a Kobe continuous mixer. Other masticating apparatus suitable for use with one or more embodiments described herein will be known to those skilled in the art.

[0095] The mixing may be carried out with one or more mixers having at least one rotor and the mixer may be one or more of the following: a kneader, a rolling mill, a screw extruder, a twin-screw extruder, a multi-screw extruder, a continuous mixer and / or a twin-screw extruder. The mixing may be carried out with one or more mixers having at least one rotor and the mixer may have two-wing rotors, four-wing rotors, six-wing rotors, eight-wing rotors and / or one or more screw rotors.

[0096] The mixing process for combining wet granules with an elastomer may be a one-step (single-step) or multi-step (multi-step) process. In a multi-step process, one or more mixers or types of mixers may be used. For steps in which an internal mixer is used, the fill factor at each of these steps may independently be less than or equal to 72%, less than or equal to 70%, or less than or equal to 68%, or less than or equal to 66%, for example, about 30% to 72%, 40% to 70%, 45% to 70%, 30% to 60%, 50 to 72%, 50 to 70%, 50 to 68%, 60 to 72%, 60 to 70%, 60 to 68%, 65 to 72%, 65 to 70%, 65 to 68%, or 40 to 60% or 50 to 60% and the like. The temperature of the mixer may be controlled to regulate the temperature of the mixture, the amount of water evaporated, or both.For example, in a multi-stage process, the temperature of the mixer for each stage may be controlled to regulate the amount of water evaporated from the mixture in the first mixing stage and in one or more subsequent stages. For example, the liquid content of the discharged composite may be lower than the liquid content of the material charged to the mixer by a proportion of 10% to 99.9% (wt.% relative to wt.%), 10% to 95%, or 10% to 50%. Alternatively or additionally, the rate of liquid release from the composite or mixture during mixing, for example by evaporation, may be measured as a . time average release rate of liquid per kg of composite or mixture (e.g., total liquid removed / (release time x composite weight), and this rate may be 0.01 to 0.14 kg / (min.kg) or 0.01 to 0.07 kg / (min.kg) or other rates below or above this range.

[0097] Alternatively or additionally, the mixing process for combining wet granules with the elastomer may be controlled in one or more stages to achieve a predetermined total specific energy (energy applied to a mixing system that drives one or more rotors per mass of composite on a dry weight basis), for example from 1,000 kJ / kg of composite (or per kg of mixture present in the mixer) to 10,000 kJ / kg of composite (or per kg of mixture present in the mixer), for example from 2,000 kJ / kg to 5,000 kJ or 1,500 kJ / kg to 8,000 kJ / kg, 1,500 kJ / kg to 7,000 kJ / kg, 1,500 kJ / kg to 6,000 kJ / kg, 1,500 kJ / kg to 5,000 kJ / kg, 1,500 kJ / kg to 3,000 kJ / kg, 1,600 kJ / kg to 8,000 kJ / kg, 1,600 kJ / kg to 7,000 kJ / kg, 1,600 kJ / kg to 6,000 kJ / kg, 1,600 kJ / kg to 5,000 kJ / kg, 1,600 kJ / kg to 4,000 kJ / kg, 1,600 kJ / kg to 3,000 kJ / kg, or other values ​​within any of these ranges.Alternatively or additionally, the specific energy applied to the mixture may be divided to ensure that a certain amount of specific energy is applied before or after a portion, e.g., 75% of the filler material, has been added to the mixer. That is, it is not necessary to add the filler material all at once. The mixing times at each stage may be any suitable duration, e.g., 1 min to 40 min, 1 min to 20 min, 1 min to 15 min, 5 min to 30 min, 5 min to 20 min, 5 min to 15 min, or 1 min to 12 min, 1 min to 10 min, 3 min to 30 min, or other times. Alternatively or additionally, the drain discharge temperature for each stage may be 120°C to 180°C, 120°C to 190°C, 130°C to 180°C, preferably 140°C to 180°C, 150°C to 180°C, 130°C to 170°C, 140°C to 170°C, 150°C to 170°C, or other temperatures within or outside these ranges.

[0098] After any one or more steps or stages of mixing, the resulting composite may be subjected to one or more post-processing steps, for example, to shape or form the composite and / or allow for improved handling. The post-processing may provide a composite that may be dried, homogenized, extruded, calendered, ground, granulated, cut, baled, or sheeted. The composite may be mixed and vulcanized immediately or may be held for a period of time prior to mixing. Suitable equipment for various post-processing steps includes, but is not limited to, one or more of an internal mixer, a kneader, a rolling mill, a roll mixer, a screw extruder, a twin-screw extruder, a multi-screw extruder, a continuous mixer, and / or a twin-screw discharge extruder equipped with a nozzle plate (e.g., a twin-screw mill) or equipped with stationary knives. Depending on the device or devices used, it may be desirable to process the composite through the device more than once or through a series of similar or different devices having the same or different operating parameters (e.g., speed, temperature, power input, etc.). Alternatively or additionally, the elastomeric composite may be combined with an added filler, an added elastomer, or both, prior to or as part of the vulcanization process. The additional filler may be the same as or different from the particulate filler in the elastomeric composite and may include any filler known to those skilled in the art, including fillers listed as additional fillers in this instance and including additional wet-milled recovered carbon.The added filler and / or elastomer can increase or decrease the filler of the vulcanizate relative to the elastomeric composite.

[0099] To vulcanize an elastomeric composite material, it is combined with a vulcanizing preparation comprising a crosslinking agent, any necessary activators and accelerators, an antioxidant, and additional optional additives such as any of those listed above. When sulfur is used as the crosslinking agent, typical activators include zinc oxide and / or stearic acid, and typical accelerators include a thiazole such as 2-2'-dithiobis(benzothiazole) (MBTS), sulfenamides such as N-cyclohexyl-2-benzothiazolesulfonamide (CBS), a dithiocarbamate such as zinc dibenzyldithiocarbamate (ZDBC). Antioxidants include N-(l,3-dimethylbutyl)-N'-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine (6PPD) and those listed in WO2012 / 037244.Other curing agents used in rubber processing are peroxides, urethane-based crosslinking agents, metal oxides, acetoxysilane compounds, etc. Additional components suitable for sulfur-based and other crosslinking systems and processes for blending and vulcanizing elastomeric composites are known to those skilled in the art. For example, typical procedures used for rubber formulation are described in Maurice Morton, Rubber Technology, 3rd Edition, Van Norstrand Reinhold Company, New York 1987, and 2nd Edition, Van Nordstrand Reinhold Company, New York 1973.

[0100] Various rubber articles may incorporate the vulcanizate. Preferably, the rubber product, as shown, is an EPDM product or profile, such as EPDM weatherstripping and the like. The rubber article or product may be in the form of a hose, a membrane, and similar types of articles and products. Essentially, any rubber article in which the surface defects are significant or critical to performance and / or appearance, the present invention may be used.

[0101] The present invention comprises the following aspects / embodiments / features in any order and / or in any combination:

[0102] 1. EPDM profile extruded from an EPDM formulation comprising a mixture of 80 to 200 phr of solid granules and at least one EPDM polymer having either a thermodynamic transition at a temperature below 30°C or an ethylene content of less than 60% by weight, and wherein said solid granules comprise a ground mixture of recovered carbon and virgin carbon black, and the EPDM profile having one or more of the following number of surface defects: (a) surface defect size of 80 to 100 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 250, (b) surface defect size of 100 to 125 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 200, (c) surface defect size of 125 to 150 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 100, (d) surface defect size of 150 to 200 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 150, (e) surface defect size of 200 to 250 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 50, and / or (f) surface defect size greater than 250 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 35, the number of surface defects being based on a 165 cm2 section of the EPDM profile which is a strip and analyzed to determine the number of surface defects.

[0103] 2. EPDM profile according to any one of the embodiments / characteristics / preceding or following aspects, the EPDM profile having one or more of the following numbers of surface defects: a) surface defects size from 80 to 100 microns — number of surface defects from 100 to 250 or from 100 to 230, b) surface defect size of 100 to 125 microns — a number of surface defects of 100 to 200 or 100 to 150, (c) surface defect size of 125 to 150 microns — a number of surface defects of 25 to 100 or 25 to 80, d) surface defects size of 150 to 200 microns — a number of surface defects of 50 to 150 or 50 to 125, (e) surface defect size of 200 to 250 microns — a number of surface defects of 10 to 50 or 10 to 25, and / or (f) surface defect size greater than 250 microns — a number of surface defects of 5 to 35 or 5 to 25, the number of surface defects being based on a 165 cm2 section of the EPDM profile which is a strip and analyzed to determine the number of surface defects.

[0104] 3. EPDM profile according to any one of the embodiments / characteristics / preceding or following aspects, in which at least two of a) to f) are present.

[0105] 4. EPDM profile according to any one of the embodiments / characteristics / preceding or following aspects, in which at least three of a) to f) are present.

[0106] 5. EPDM profile according to any one of the embodiments / characteristics / preceding or following aspects, in which at least four of a) to f) are present.

[0107] 6. EPDM profile according to any one of the embodiments / characteristics / preceding or following aspects, in which at least five of a) to f) are present.

[0108] 7. EPDM profile according to any one of the embodiments / characteristics / preceding or following aspects, in which all of a) to f) is present.

[0109] 8. EPDM profile extruded from an EPDM formulation comprising a mixture of 80 to 200 phr of solid granules and at least one EPDM polymer having a thermodynamic transition at a temperature greater than or equal to 30°C or an ethylene content greater than or equal to 60% by weight, and wherein said solid granules comprise a ground mixture of recovered carbon and virgin carbon black, and the EPDM profile having one or more of the following numbers of surface defects: (a) surface defect size of 80 to 100 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 120, (b) surface defect size of 100 to 125 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 70, (c) surface defect size of 125 to 150 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 25, (d) surface defect size of 150 to 200 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 25, (e) surface defect size of 200 to 250 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 8, and / or (f) surface defect size greater than 250 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 11, the number of surface defects being based on a 165 cm2 section of the EPDM profile which is a strip and analyzed to determine the number of surface defects.

[0110] 9. EPDM profile according to any one of the embodiments / characteristics / preceding or following aspects, the EPDM profile having one or more of the following numbers of surface defects: a) surface defects size of 80 to 100 microns — number of surface defects of 50 to 120 or 50 to 90, b) surface defects size of 100 to 125 microns — number of surface defects of 25 to 70 or 25 to 40, (c) surface defect size of 125 to 150 microns — a number of surface defects of 5 to 25 or 5 to 20, d) surface defects size of 150 to 200 microns — a number of surface defects of 13 to 25 or 13 to 22, (e) surface defect size of 200 to 250 microns — a number of surface defects of 3 to 8 or 3 to 6, and / or (f) surface defect size greater than 250 microns — a number of surface defects of 3 to 11 or 3 to 10, the number of surface defects being based on a 165 cm2 section of the EPDM profile which is a strip and analyzed to determine the number of surface defects.

[0111] 10. EPDM profile according to any one of the embodiments / preceding or following characteristics / aspects, in which at least two of a) to f) are present.

[0112] 11. EPDM profile according to any one of the embodiments / preceding or following characteristics / aspects, in which at least three of a) to f) are present.

[0113] 12. EPDM profile according to any one of the embodiments / preceding or following characteristics / aspects, in which at least four of a) to f) are present.

[0114] 13. EPDM profile according to any one of the embodiments / preceding or following characteristics / aspects, in which at least five of a) to f) are present.

[0115] 14. EPDM profile according to any one of the embodiments / preceding or following characteristics / aspects, in which all of a) to f) are present.

[0116] 15. EPDM profile according to any one of the embodiments / preceding or following characteristics / aspects, the EPDM profile comprising 100 to 190 pce of the ground mixture, for example, 120 to 180 pce, 140 to 175 pce or 150 to 170 pce.

[0117] 16. Method of manufacturing the EPDM profile according to any of the methods of preceding or following embodiment / features / aspects, said method comprising mixing the one or more EPDM polymers with a plurality of solid granules to form the EPDM formulation, and extruding the EPDM formulation to form the EPDM profile.

[0118] 17. A method of manufacturing a solid granule, said method comprising the introduction of recovered carbon and the introduction of virgin carbon black as separate raw materials into a mill; grinding the recovered carbon and virgin carbon black together to obtain a ground mixture; wet granulation of the ground mixture to obtain wet solid granules; drying of the wet solid granules to obtain dry solid granules.

[0119] 18. Method according to any one of the embodiments / features / aspects preceding or following, wherein the grinding comprises impact grinding.

[0120] 19. Method according to any one of the embodiments / features / aspects preceding or following, in which the grinding is dry grinding.

[0121] 20. Method according to any one of the embodiments / features / aspects preceding or following, wherein the grinding comprises pin grinding, pneumatic classification grinding, fine impact grinding, jet grinding or ball grinding.

[0122] 21. Method according to any one of the embodiments / features / aspects previous or following, in which virgin carbon black is fed directly from a carbon black production line.

[0123] 22. Method according to any one of the embodiments / features / aspects preceding or following, wherein the virgin carbon black has a temperature of 100°C to 200°C.

[0124] 23. Method according to any one of the embodiments / features / aspects preceding or following, in which the virgin carbon black belongs to the ASTM 300 to 500 series.

[0125] 24. Method according to any one of the embodiments / features / aspects preceding or following, wherein said wet granulation comprises mixing the milled mixture with an aqueous solution and at least one binder, then forming said wet solid granules.

[0126] 25. Method according to any one of the embodiments / features / aspects preceding or following, wherein the amount of the binder(s) is from 100 ppm to 4,000 ppm.

[0127] 26. Method according to any one of the embodiments / features / aspects preceding or following, wherein said grinding is sufficient to obtain a ground mixture having a D90 in a range of 0.3 microns to 1.0 microns for carbon black virgin and a D90 in the range of < 10 microns to < 20 microns for recovered carbon.

[0128] 27. Method according to any one of the embodiments / features / aspects preceding or following, in which the recovered carbon is introduced into the mill in the absence of primary grinding or pre-grinding.

[0129] 28. Method according to any one of the embodiments / features / aspects preceding or following, 17 to 27, in which the recovered carbon has a D50 of 0.5 mm to 1 mm.

[0130] 29. Solid granule comprising a mixture of recovered carbon particles and virgin carbon black, wherein said virgin carbon black particles have a D90 in a range of 0.3 microns to 1.0 microns for virgin carbon black and a D90 in a range of < 10 microns to < 20 microns for recovered carbon.

[0131] 30. Solid granule according to any one of the embodiments / characteristics / as preceding or following aspects, the solid granule further comprising at least one binder.

[0132] 31. Solid granule according to any one of the embodiments / characteristics / preceding or following aspects, wherein the binder is present in an amount of 100 ppm to 4000 ppm.

[0133] 32. Solid granule according to any one of the embodiments / characteristics / as previous or following pects, the solid granule having an average size of about 0.5 mm to about 2 mm.

[0134] 33. Solid granule according to any one of the embodiments / characteristics / preceding or following aspects, the solid granule having a moisture content of less than 2% by weight.

[0135] 34. Solid granule according to any one of the embodiments / characteristics / preceding or following aspects, wherein said recovered carbon particles are present in an amount of 1% by weight to 50% by weight, and said virgin carbon black particles are present in an amount of 50% by weight to 99% by weight, based on the total weight of said solid granule.

[0136] 35. Solid granule according to any one of the embodiments / characteristics / preceding or following aspects, wherein said recovered carbon particles are present in an amount of 5 wt% to 20 wt%, and said virgin carbon black particles are present in an amount of 80 wt% to 95 wt%, based on the total weight of said solid granule.

[0137] 36. Solid granule according to any one of the embodiments / characteristics / preceding or following aspects, wherein said recovered carbon particles are present in an amount of 5 wt% to 15 wt%, and said virgin carbon black particles are present in an amount of 85 wt% to 95 wt%, based on the total weight of said solid pellet.

[0138] 37. Solid granule according to any one of the embodiments / characteristics / as preceding or following pects, the solid granule having a granule hardness of 30 grams to 45 grams, measured according to ASTM D5230.

[0139] 38. Solid granule according to any one of the embodiments / characteristics / preceding or following aspects, wherein the virgin carbon black is an ASTM 300 to 500 series black.

[0140] 39. Solid granule according to any one of the embodiments / characteristics / preceding or following aspects, the solid granule having the property of giving an EPDM profile extruded from a formulation comprising a mixture of 80 to 200 phr of the solid granules and at least one EPDM polymer having either a thermodynamic transition at a temperature below 30°C or an ethylene content of less than 60% by weight, one or more of the following numbers of surface defects: a) surface defects size from 80 to 100 microns — number of surface defects from 100 to 250 or from 100 to 230, b) surface defect size of 100 to 125 microns — a number of surface defects of 100 to 200 or 100 to 150, (c) surface defect size of 125 to 150 microns — a number of surface defects of 25 to 100 or 25 to 80, d) surface defects size of 150 to 200 microns — a number of surface defects of 50 to 150 or 50 to 125, (e) surface defect size of 200 to 250 microns — a number of surface defects of 10 to 50 or 10 to 25, and / or (f) surface defect size greater than 250 microns — a number of surface defects of 5 to 35 or 5 to 25, the number of surface defects being based on a 165 cm2 section of the EPDM profile which is a strip and analyzed to determine the number of surface defects.

[0141] 40. Solid granule according to any one of the embodiments / characteristics / preceding or following aspects, the solid granule having the property of giving an EPDM profile extruded from a formulation comprising a plurality of solid granules and at least one EPDM polymer having a thermodynamic transition at a temperature of at least 30°C and an ethylene content of at least 60% by weight, one or more of the following numbers of surface defects: a) size of surface defects of 80 to 100 microns — a number of surface defects of 50 to 120 or 50 to 90, b) size of surface defects of 100 to 125 microns — a number of surface defects of 25 to 70 or 25 to 40, (c) surface defect size of 125 to 150 microns — a number of surface defects of 5 to 25 or 5 to 20, d) surface defects size of 150 to 200 microns — a number of surface defects of 13 to 25 or 13 to 22, e) surface defects size of 200 to 250 microns — number of surface defects of 3 to 8 or 3 to 6, and / or (f) surface defect size greater than 250 microns — a number of surface defects of 3 to 11 or 3 to 10, the number of surface defects being based on a 165 cm2 section of the EPDM profile which is a strip and analyzed to determine the number of surface defects

[0142] 41. EPDM profile extruded from an EPDM formulation comprising a mixture of 80 to 200 pce of the solid granules according to any one of the preceding or following embodiments / characteristics / aspects, and at least one EPDM polymer.

[0143] The present invention will become more clearly apparent from the following examples which are given by way of example only. EXAMPLES

[0144] Example 1 Three EPDM compounds were prepared with an amorphous polymer, EPDM Keltan 10660C (produced by Arlanxeo), and extruded into a 1 mm thick strip. The formulations are shown in Table 1. All compositions were mixed in a 1.6 l Banbury mixer with two winged rotors. Dry mixed samples (granule moisture < 1 wt%) were prepared in two stages, as described in Table 2. After each formulation stage, the compounds were sheeted on a 2-roll mill operating at 50 °C and 20 rpm, followed by six passes through a nip of approximately 3 mm, with a rest time before the next mixing stage (or curing, after the last stage) of at least 3 hours.Curing was carried out in a heated press (160 °C, 2500 1b), for a time T90 + 2 min as determined by a conventional rubber rheometer, where T90 is the time required to reach 90% vulcanization. The rubber compounds were extruded with the Brabender extruder and a belt die. The barrel temperature was 100 °C and the rotor speed was 30 rpm. The length, width and thickness of a belt are approximately 25 cm, 2 cm and 1 mm, respectively. Invention Example 1 (IE1) used cogranulates that included Cabot Corporation N550 carbon black as well as recovered carbon (rC) impact milled to 500 mesh (10 wt% rC with 90 wt% virgin carbon black) that were pelletized by . wet process with about 0.2 wt% sodium lignosulfonate as a liquid loaded at 65 wt% in a conventional granulator with walls maintained at about 86 °C and then dried. Comparative Example 1 (CEI) used carbon black N550, while Comparative Example (CE2) used direct blends of 10 wt% rC and 90 wt% CB N550 (not cogranulated). All compounds were prepared in duplicate and the results shown are the values averages of two repetitions. [Table 1]: Formulation of EPDM weatherstripping compounds Component Comparative example (IEC) Comparative example (CE2) Example of the inv ention (IE1) EPDM Keltan 10660C 100 100 100 CB N550 155 139.5 Cogranulate N550 - rC 155 Granules rC 15.5 CaCO3 77 77 77 Sunpar 2280 98 98 98 stearic acid 2 2 2 ZnO-80 6 6 6 PEG4000 2 2 2 CaO-80 6 6 6 CBS-80 0.5 0.5 0.5 E-80GE 0.5 0.5 0.5 MBTS-75 1.5 1.5 1.5 CLD-80 1 1 1 TP-50 2.5 2.5 2.5 ZBEC-70 2 2 2 S-80 0.75 0.75 0.75 Total PCE 454.75 454.75 454.75

[0145] In Table 1, CaCO3 is produced by Nuobo Sunpar 2280 is a paraffinic oil produced by Sun Oil Company Stearic acid is produced by IOI Oleochemicals ZnO-80 is supplied by Actmix PEG4000 is supplied by Lotte Chemical CaO-80 is a drying agent, produced by Actmix CBS-80 consists of 80% N-cyclohexyl-2-benzothiazole-sulfenamide, 20% elastomeric binder and dispersing agents, produced by Rhein Chemie. E-80GE retarder consists of 80% sulfonamide derivatives, 20% elastomeric binder and dispersing agents produced by Rhein Chemie. MBTS-75 consists of 75% 2-2'-dithiobis(benzothiazole), 25% elastomeric binder and dispersing agents produced by Rhein Chemie. CLD-80 consists of 80% caprolactam disulfide, 20% elastomeric binder and dispersing agents produced by Rhein Chemie. TP-50 consists of 50% zinc dialkyldithiophosphate, 50% elastomeric binder and dispersing agents produced by Rhein Chemie. ZBEC-70 consists of 70% zinc dibenzyl dithiocarbamate, 30% elastomeric binder and dispersing agents produced by Rhein Chemie. S-80 consists of 80% sulfur, 20% elastomeric binder and dispersing agents produced by Rhein Chemie.

[0146] [Tables2] Step 1 Fill Factor, % 70 Rotor Speed, rpm 80 Starting Temperature, °C 50 Time (s) Description 0 Add Polymer 35 Add Filler, Oil & Fines 95 Sweep -240 Discharge Step 2 Fill Factor, % 65 Rotor Speed, rpm 60 Starting Temperature, °C 50 Time (s) Description 0 Add Batch from previous step & Hardeners 80 Scrape / sweep 180 Drain - Adjust RPM to stay <110°C

[0147] The surfaces of the extruded EPDM strips were measured via an optical video system of Suzhou Oi-Smart Technology Co. to analyze the surface defects. The images of the strip surface are shown in [Fig.l]. The black areas on the surface are the defects. The images indicate the same trend as that observed by the naked eye, namely that IE1 (cogranulate of rC and carbon black) leads to much fewer surface defects than CE2 (direct blends of rC and N550 carbon black). In addition, IE1 had a similar visual appearance to CEI (N550 carbon only). The statistical analysis of the surface defects of 165 cm2 extruded strips is shown in [Fig.2]. The numbers of defects of IE1 are slightly higher or comparable to those of CEI.The defect counts of IE1 are 50-70% lower than those of CE2 for all size ranges, which shows that the rC-CB cogranulate has effectively reduced the amount of surface defects compared to direct blends. The surface defects of the extruded profiles were measured by an automatic visual inspection machine. The camera scans the profile surface and automatically recognizes and measures the defects as contrast areas with the background with a line speed of 10 mm / s, a measuring field width of 28 mm and a pixel resolution of 7 microns. The scanned area for each profile is 165 cm2.

[0148] The volume resistivity (EVR) of the three examples was also evaluated and the results are shown in [Fig. 3]. The EVR follows the order: IE1 > CE2 > CEI. rC generally has a higher EVR than ordinary carbon black due to its morphology, surface functionality and possibly residual ash. The higher EVR of IE1 compared to CE2 indicates that rC is better dispersed in IE1 than in CE2, which serves as a “more electrically resistive layer” within the CB network and increases the volume resistivity. The EVR results may support the idea that cogranulation improves the dispersion of rC.

[0149] The mechanical properties were also evaluated for the three samples and the results are presented in Table 3.

[0150] [Tables3] Properties IEC CE2 IE1 Hardness (Shore A) 71.6 69.9 70.1 Mod. 100% (mPa) 3.4 3.1 3.2 Mod. 300% (mPa) 7.9 7.2 7.1 Tensile strength (MPa) 9.7 9.2 9.3 Elongation at break (%) 390 399 420 Compression set (70 h at 23 °C) 7.8 7.9 7.2 Compression set (22 h at 70 °C) 9.6 9.2 9.4

[0151] Example 2

[0152] Three EPDM compounds using semi-crystalline EPDM, Nordel polymer 4785HM (produced by Dow), were prepared and extruded into a 1 mm thick strip. The formulations are shown in Table 4. All compositions were mixed in a 1.6 l Banbury mixer with two winged rotors. Dry mixed samples (granule moisture < 1 wt. %) were prepared in two stages, as described in Table 5. After each formulation stage, the compounds are sheeted on a 2-roll mill operating at 50 °C and approximately 20 rpm, followed by six passes through a nip of approximately 3 mm, with a rest time before the next mixing stage (or curing, after the last stage) of at least 3 hours. Curing was carried out in a heated press (160 °C, 2500 1b), for a time T90 + 2 min as determined by a conventional rubber rheometer, where T90 is the time required to reach 90% vulcanization.The rubber compounds were extruded with the Brabender extruder and a belt die. The barrel temperature was 100 °C and the rotor speed was 30 rpm. The length, width, and thickness of a belt are approximately 25 cm, 2 cm, and 1 mm, respectively. Invention Example 2 (IE2) used cogranulates that included Cabot Corporation N550 carbon black as well as recovered carbon (rC) impact milled to 500 mesh (10 wt.% rC with 90 wt.% virgin carbon black). Comparative Example 1 (CE3) used N550 carbon black, while Comparative Example (CE4) used direct blends of 10 wt.% rC and 90 wt.% N550 CB (not cogranulated). [Table 4]: Formulation of EPDM weatherstripping compounds Component Comparative example (CE3) Comparative example (CE4) Example of the invention (IE2) Nordel 4785 100 100 100 stearic acid 2 2 2 ZnO-80 6 6 6 PEG4000 2 2 2 Sunpar 2280 90 90 90 CaCO3 60 60 60 N550 160 144 Cogranulate N550-rC 160 rC 16 MBTS-75 1.333 1.333 1.333 S-80 1.25 1.25 1.25 CaO-80 6 6 6 E-80GE 0.5 0.5 0.5 ZBEC-70 1.429 1.429 1.429 ZDTP-50 3 3 3 Total PCE 433.512 433.512 433.512

[0153] In Table 4, ZDTP-50 consists of zinc alkyldithiophosphate, 50% elastomeric binder and dispersing agents produced by Rhein Chemie; all other components are as listed in Table 1.

[0154] [Tables5] Stage 1 Fill Factor, % 75 Rotor Speed, rpm 80 Starting Temperature, °C 70 Time (s) Description 0 Add Polymer 35 Add Filler, Oil & Fines 95 Sweep 240 Discharge Stage 2 Fill Factor, % 65 Rotor Speed, rpm 60 Starting temperature, °C 50 Time (s) Description 0 Add batch from previous step and hardeners s 80 Scrape / sweep 180 Drain - Adjust RPM to stay < 110 °C

[0155] The surfaces of the extruded EPDM strips were measured using an optical video system to analyze surface defects as described in the example 1. The statistical analysis of surface defects of 165 cm2 extruded strips is presented in [Fig.5] and shows that the use of N550-rC cogranules leads to the lowest number of defects, even lower than that of using pure carbon black. The mechanical properties were also tested for the three samples and the results are presented in Table 6.

[0156] [Tableauxô] Properties CE3 CE4 IE2 Hardness (Shore A) 79.5 78.1 78.6 Mod. 100% (mPa) 4.6 4.1 3.8 Mod. 300% (mPa) 9.7 8.4 7.7 Tensile strength (MPa) 10.6 10.1 8.5 Elongation at break (%) 376 424 360 Compression set (22 h at 70 °C) 11 11.2 10.2

[0157] Example 3

[0158] Two EPDM compounds using a semi-crystalline EPDM, Nordel 4785HM polymer (produced by Dow), are prepared and extruded into 1 mm thick strip. The formulations are shown in Table 7. All compositions are mixed in a 1.6 l Banbury mixer provided with two winged rotors. Dry mixed samples (granule moisture < 1 wt. %) were prepared in two stages as described in Table 8. After each formulation stage, the compounds are sheeted on a 2-roll mill operating at 50 °C and about 20 rpm, followed by six passes through a nip of about 3 mm, with a rest time before the next mixing stage (or curing, after the last stage) of at least 3 hours.Curing is carried out in a heated press (160 °C, 2500 1b), for a time T90 + 2 min as determined by a conventional rubber rheometer, where T90 is the time required to reach . 90% vulcanization. The rubber compounds are extruded with the Brabender extruder and a belt die. The barrel temperature is 100 °C and the rotor speed is 30 rpm. The length, width, and thickness of a strip are approximately 25 cm, 2 cm, and 1 mm, respectively. The compounds use cogranules produced as described in Example 1. These compounds are expected to have a lower surface defect rate than those obtained using mixtures of N550 carbon black granules and rC granules. [Paintings?] Component Example of the invention (IE3) Example of the invention (IE4) Nordel 4785 100 100 stearic acid 2 2 ZnO-80 6 6 PEG4000 2 2 Sunpar 2280 55 125 CaCO3 50 90 N550 Cogranulated N550-rC 90 190 rC MBTS-75 1.333 1.333 S-80 1.25 1.25 CaO-80 6 6 E-80GE 0.5 0.5 ZBEC-70 1.429 1.429 ZDTP-50 3 3 Total PCE 318.512 523.512

[0159] In Table 7, ZDTP-50 consists of zinc alkyldithiophosphate, 50% elastomeric binder and dispersing agents produced by Rhein Chemie; all other components are as listed in Table 1. [TABLE 8]: Step 1 Fill factor, % 75 Rotor Speed, rpm 80 Starting Temperature, °C 70 Time (s) Description 0 Add Polymer 35 Add Filler, Oil & Fines 95 Sweep 240 Unload Stage 2 Fill Factor, % 65 Rotor Speed, rpm 60 Starting Temperature, °C 50 Time (s) Description 0 Add Batch from previous stage & 1st Hardeners 80 Scrape / Sweep 180 Drain - Adjust RPM to stay < 110 °C

[0160] Although this invention has been particularly presented and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications in form and detail may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the invention delimited by the appended claims.

[0161] In the present context, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed related elements. Furthermore, all conjunctions used are to be understood in the most inclusive sense possible. Thus, the word "or" is to be understood as having the definition of a logical "or" rather than that of a logical "exclusive or" unless the context clearly requires otherwise. It will further be apparent that the terms: includes, comprises and / or including and / or comprising, when used in this specification, specify the presence of features, steps, operations, elements and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other of the listed features, steps, operations, elements, components and / or groups thereof. Furthermore, it will be apparent that, where an element, including a component or subsystem, is referred to and / or depicted as being linked or coupled to another element, it may be directly linked or coupled to the other element or intermediate elements may be present.

[0162] It should be understood that, although terms such as "first" and "second" are used herein to refer to different elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used only to distinguish one element from another element. Therefore, an element described below may be referred to as a second element and, similarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element without departing from the teachings of the present invention.

[0163] Unless otherwise indicated, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains. It is further to be understood that terms, as defined in commonly used dictionaries, are to be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the related art and are not to be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly defined herein.

[0164] Furthermore, where a quantity, concentration or other value or parameter is given as a range, preferred range or list of preferable upper values ​​and preferable lower values, this is to be understood as specifically indicating all ranges formed from any pair of any upper preferred range limit or value and any lower preferred range limit or value, regardless of whether the ranges are described separately. Where a range of numerical values ​​is referred to herein, unless otherwise indicated, the range is intended to include its endpoints, as well as all integers and fractions within the range. It is not intended that the scope of the invention be limited to the specific values ​​stated when defining a range.It is further understood that for any range provided herein, the numerical ranges may be "about" those ranges, and conversely, when a range is provided using "about" ranges, those ranges may be precisely the numerical ranges provided. Any combination of embodiments and / or elements and / or components and / or properties mentioned herein may be made herein and is considered part of the present invention.

[0165] Other embodiments of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from reading this specification and practicing the present invention described herein. It is to be understood that this specification and the examples are to be considered as exemplary only, with the true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims and their equivalents.

Claims

Claims

1. An EPDM profile extruded from an EPDM formulation comprising a mixture of 80 to 200 phr of solid granules and at least one EPDM polymer having either a thermodynamic transition at a temperature below 30°C or an ethylene content of less than 60% by weight, and wherein said solid granules comprise a ground mixture of reclaimed carbon and virgin carbon black, and wherein the EPDM profile has one or more of the following numbers of surface defects: a) surface defect size of 80 to 100 microns — a number of surface defects of less than or equal to 250, b) surface defect size of 100 to 125 microns — a number of surface defects of less than or equal to 200, c) surface defect size of 125 to 150 microns — a number of surface defects of less than or equal to 100, d) surface defect size of 150 to 200 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 150,e) surface defect size of 200 to 250 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 50, and / or f) surface defect size greater than 250 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 35, the number of surface defects being based on a 165 cm2 section of the EPDM profile which is a strip and analyzed to determine the number of surface defects.,

2. EPDM profile according to claim 1, the EPDM profile having one or more of the following numbers of surface defects a) size of surface defects from 80 to 100 microns — a number of surface defects from 100 to 250 or from 100 to 230, b) size of surface defects from 100 to 125 microns — a number of surface defects from 100 to 200 or from 100 to 150, c) size of surface defects from 125 to 150 microns — a number of surface defects from 25 to 100 or from 25 to 80, d) size of surface defects from 150 to 200 microns — a number of surface defects from 50 to 150 or from 50 to 125, e) size of surface defects from 200 to 250 microns — a number of surface defects of 10 to 50 or 10 to 25, and / or

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8. (f) surface defect size greater than 250 microns — a number of surface defects of 5 to 35 or 5 to 25, the number of surface defects being based on a 165 cm2 section of the EPDM profile which is a strip and analyzed to determine the number of surface defects. EPDM profile according to claim 1 or 2, wherein at least two of a) to f) are present. EPDM profile according to claim 1 or 2, wherein at least three of a) to f) are present. EPDM profile according to claim 1 or 2, wherein at least four of a) to f) are present. EPDM profile according to claim 1 or 2, wherein at least five of a) to f) are present. EPDM profile according to claim 1 or 2, wherein all of a) to f) are present. An EPDM profile extruded from an EPDM formulation comprising a mixture of 80 to 200 phr of solid granules and at least one EPDM polymer exhibiting a thermodynamic transition at a temperature greater than or equal to 30°C or an ethylene content greater than or equal to 60% by weight, and wherein said solid granules comprise a ground mixture of recovered carbon and virgin carbon black, and the EPDM profile exhibiting one or more of the following number of surface defects: (a) surface defect size of 80 to 100 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 120, (b) surface defect size of 100 to 125 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 70, (c) surface defect size of 125 to 150 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 25, (d) surface defect size of 150 to 200 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 25, (e) surface defect size of 200 to 250 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 8, and / or (f) surface defect size greater than 250 microns — a number of surface defects less than or equal to 11, the number of surface defects being based on a 165 cm2 section of the profile in EPDM which is a strip and analyzed to determine the number of surface defects.

9. EPDM profile according to claim 8, the EPDM profile having one or more of the following numbers of surface defects: a) size of surface defects from 80 to 100 microns — a number of surface defects from 50 to 120 or from 50 to 90, b) size of surface defects from 100 to 125 microns — a number of surface defects from 25 to 70 or from 25 to 40, c) size of surface defects from 125 to 150 microns — a number of surface defects from 5 to 25 or from 5 to 20, d) size of surface defects from 150 to 200 microns — a number of surface defects from 13 to 25 or from 13 to 22, e) size of surface defects from 200 to 250 microns — a number of surface defects from 3 to 8 or 3 to 6, and / or f) surface defect size greater than 250 microns — a number of surface defects of 3 to 11 or 3 to 10,the number of surface defects being based on a 165 cm2 section of the EPDM profile which is a strip and analyzed to determine the number of surface defects.,

10. EPDM profile according to claim 8 or 9, wherein at least two of a) to f) are present.

11. An EPDM profile according to claim 8 or 9, wherein at least three of a) to f) are present.

12. An EPDM profile according to claim 8 or 9, wherein at least four of a) to f) are present.

13. An EPDM profile according to claim 8 or 9, wherein at least five of a) to f) are present.

14. An EPDM profile according to claim 8 or 9, wherein all of a) to f) are present.

15. An EPDM profile according to any preceding claim, the EPDM profile comprising 100 to 190 phr of the ground mixture, for example 120 to 180 phr, 140 to 175 phr, or 150 to 170 phr.

16. A method of manufacturing the EPDM profile according to any one of the preceding claims, said method comprising mixing the EPDM polymer(s) with a plurality of solid granules

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

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25.

26. to form the EPDM formulation, and the extrusion of the EPDM formulation to form the EPDM profile. A method of manufacturing a solid pellet, said method comprising introducing recovered carbon and introducing virgin carbon black as separate raw materials into a mill; grinding the recovered carbon and virgin carbon black together to obtain a ground mixture; wet granulation of the ground mixture to obtain wet solid granules; drying wet solid granules to obtain dry solid granules. The method of claim 17, wherein the grinding comprises impact grinding. The method of claim 17, wherein the grinding is dry grinding. The method of claim 17, wherein the grinding comprises pin grinding, pneumatic classification grinding, fine impact grinding, jet grinding or ball milling. A method according to any one of claims 17 to 20, wherein the virgin carbon black is fed directly from a carbon black production line. A method according to any one of claims 17 to 21, wherein the virgin carbon black has a temperature of 100°C to 200°C. A method according to any one of claims 17 to 22, wherein the virgin carbon black is of the ASTM 300 to 500 series. A method according to any one of claims 17 to 23, wherein said wet granulation comprises mixing the milled mixture with an aqueous solution and at least one binder, and then forming said wet solid granules. A method according to any one of claims 17 to 24, wherein the amount of the binder(s) is from 100 ppm to 4,000 ppm. A method according to any one of claims 17 to 25, wherein said grinding is sufficient to obtain a ground mixture having a D90 in a range of 0.3 microns to 1.0 microns for black of virgin carbon and a D90 in the range of < 10 microns to < 20 microns for recovered carbon.

27. A method according to any one of claims 17 to 26, wherein the recovered carbon is introduced into the mill in the absence of primary grinding or pre-grinding.

28. The method of claims 17 to 27, wherein the recovered carbon has a D50 of 0.5 mm to 1 mm.

29. A solid granule comprising a mixture of reclaimed carbon particles and virgin carbon black, wherein said virgin carbon black particles have a D90 in a range of 0.3 microns to 1.0 microns for the virgin carbon black and a D90 in a range of < 10 microns to < 20 microns for the reclaimed carbon.

30. A solid granule according to claim 29, the solid granule further comprising at least one binder.

31. A solid granule according to any one of claims 29 to 30, wherein the binder is present in an amount of 100 ppm to 4000 ppm.

32. A solid granule according to any one of claims 29 to 31, the solid granule having an average size of about 0.5 mm to about 2 mm.

33. A solid granule according to any one of claims 29 to 32, the solid granule having a moisture content of less than 2% by weight.

34. A solid granule according to any one of claims 29 to 33, wherein said recovered carbon particles are present in an amount of 1 wt% to 50 wt%, and said virgin carbon black particles are present in an amount of 50 wt% to 99 wt%, based on the total weight of said solid granule.

35. A solid granule according to any one of claims 29 to 34, wherein said recovered carbon particles are present in an amount of 5 wt% to 20 wt%, and said virgin carbon black particles are present in an amount of 80 wt% to 95 wt%, based on the total weight of said solid granule.

36. A solid pellet according to any one of claims 29 to 35, wherein said recovered carbon particles are present in an amount of 5 wt% to 15 wt%, and said virgin carbon black particles are present in an amount of 85% by weight to 95% by weight, based on the total weight of said solid granule.

37. A solid granule according to any one of claims 29 to 36, the solid granule having a granule hardness of 30 grams to 45 grams, measured according to ASTM D5230.

38. A solid granule according to any one of claims 29 to 37, wherein the virgin carbon black is an ASTM 300 to 500 series black.

39. A solid granule according to any one of claims 29 to 38, the solid granule having the property of conferring on an EPDM profile extruded from a formulation comprising a mixture of 80 to 200 phr of the solid granules and at least one EPDM polymer having either a thermodynamic transition at a temperature below 30°C or an ethylene content of less than 60% by weight, one or more of the following numbers of surface defects: a) surface defect size of 80 to 100 microns — a number of surface defects of 100 to 250 or 100 to 230, b) surface defect size of 100 to 125 microns — a number of surface defects of 100 to 200 or 100 to 150, c) surface defect size of 125 to 150 microns — a number of surface defects from 25 to 100 or from 25 to 80, d) size of surface defects from 150 to 200 microns — a number of surface defects from 50 to 150 or from 50 to 125,e) surface defect size of 200 to 250 microns — a number of surface defects of 10 to 50 or 10 to 25, and / or f) surface defect size greater than 250 microns — a number of surface defects of 5 to 35 or 5 to 25, the number of surface defects being based on a 165 cm2 section of the EPDM profile which is a strip and analyzed to determine the number of surface defects.,

40. A solid granule according to any one of claims 29 to 39, the solid granule having the property of conferring on an EPDM profile extruded from a formulation comprising a plurality of solid granules and at least one EPDM polymer having a thermodynamic transition at a temperature of at least 30°C and an ethylene content of at least 60% by weight, one or more of the following numbers of surface defects:

41. a) surface defects size of 80 to 100 microns — number of surface defects of 50 to 120 or 50 to 90, b) surface defects size of 100 to 125 microns — number of surface defects of 25 to 70 or 25 to 40, (c) surface defect size of 125 to 150 microns — a number of surface defects of 5 to 25 or 5 to 20, d) surface defects size of 150 to 200 microns — a number of surface defects of 13 to 25 or 13 to 22, (e) surface defect size of 200 to 250 microns — a number of surface defects of 3 to 8 or 3 to 6, and / or (f) surface defect size greater than 250 microns — a number of surface defects of 3 to 11 or 3 to 10, the number of surface defects being based on a 165 cm2 section of the EPDM profile which is a strip and analyzed to determine the number of surface defects. An EPDM profile extruded from an EPDM formulation comprising a mixture of 80 to 200 phr of the solid granules according to any one of claims 29 to 40, and at least one EPDM polymer.

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