A substantial quantity of discarded tires has inflicted harm on the environment. Microwave pyrolysis of discarded tires emerges as an efficient and environmentally friendly method for their recycling. This research innovatively utilizes the characteristics of microwave rapid and selective heating to pyrolyze waste tires into porous graphene under the catalysis of KOH etching. Moreover, this study comprehensively investigates the dielectric characteristics and heating behavior of waste tires and different proportions of waste tire–KOH mixtures. It validates the preparation of graphene through KOH-catalyzed microwave pyrolysis of waste tires, tracking morphological and structural changes under varying temperature conditions. The results indicate that optimal dielectric performance of the material is achieved at an apparent density of 0.68 g/cm3 at room temperature. As the temperature increases, the dielectric constant gradually rises, particularly reaching a notable increase around 700 °C, and then stabilizes around 750 °C. Additionally, the study investigates the penetration depth and reflection loss of mixtures with different proportions, revealing the waste tire–KOH mass ratio of 1:2 demonstrates favorable dielectric properties. This research highlights the impressive microwave responsiveness of the waste tire–KOH mixture, Upon the addition of KOH, the mixed material exhibits an augmented dielectric constant and relative dielectric constant, supporting the viability of KOH-catalyzed microwave pyrolysis for producing porous graphene from waste tires. This method is expected to provide a new method for the valuable reuse of waste tires and a technology for large-scale, efficient and environmentally friendly production of graphene.

Ondol is the unique traditional heating system of Korea, which is excellent in thermal comfort. Whereas it has several merits as a wet construction method, its work process is complicated and disadvantageous in protecting noise and has concrete heat storage layer. So it is necessary to develop a new material to cover these demerits. In this research the material that can resolve the problems of construction and noise prevention while keeping heating function of existing wet floor structure has been developed through manufacturing artificial wooden floor panel utilizing waste tires. The developing tendency of existing floor structure companies was studied for experimental contents, and through testing of manufactured materials' degree of strength of bending and pressure the function and similarity of natural wooden material could be confirmed. These floor structure can be shortened of its construction period through simple method which results in saving construction cost and convenience of maintenance, and especially it can be said that as 70~80% of its material is powder of waste tires, it has excellent function against floor impact noise and it utilizes recycling material more than anything. It is likely that through more tests and research, the construction method for linking part between panels which hasn't been dealt with in this research will be improved.

By the end of 2012, the recycled proportion of domestic waste tires was 287,330 ton (93.9%) of the amount of waste tires discharged (305,877 ton). The waste tires have been reused for heat supply, material recycling and other purposes; the proportions are 50.1%, 20.7% and 23.1%, respectively. In the case of heat supply, waste tires are supplied to cement kiln (104,105 ton, 68%), RDF manufacture facilities (47,530 ton, 31%) and incinerators (1,923 ton, 1%). Recently, there has been an increase in the use of waste tires at power generation facilities as an auxiliary fuel. Thus, physico-chemical analysis, such as proximate analysis, elemental analysis and calorific value analysis have been carried out to evaluate potential of waste tires as an auxiliary fuel in Korea. The LHV (Lower Heating Value) of waste tires is approximately 20% higher than that of coal, at an average of 8,489 kcal/kg (7,684 ~ 10,040 kcal/kg). Meanwhile, the sulfur content is approximately 1.5wt. %, and balance of plant (e.g. pipe line, boiler tube, etc.) may be corroded by the sulfur. However, this can be prevented by construction and supplementation with refractories. In this study, TDF (Tire Derived Fuel) produced from waste tires was co-combusted with coal, and applied to the CFB (Circulating Fluidized Bed) boiler, a commercial plant of 100 tons/day in Korea. It was combined with coal, ranging from 0 to 20wt. %. In order to determine the effect on human health and the environment, gas emission such as dioxin, NOx, SOx and so on, were continuously analyzed and monitored as well as the oxygen and carbon monoxide levels to check operational issues.

The current study is a basic research to review the possibility of using steel wire from waste tires as recycled steel fiber for construction purposes. It analyzes preexisting waste tire-related data before processing and selecting waste steel wires to compare their composition and three quality standards if appearance as defined by concrete steel fiber regulations (KS F 2564), tensile strength, and flexibility, in order to review the feasibility of reusing waste steel wires. The results showed that the waste steel wires satisfy quality standards stated in the concrete steel fiber regulation (KS F 2564), indicating that they may be reused as recycled steel fiber for concrete.