Northwest, Center of Excellence tenant sign MOU

riek hubbard center aerial small

Northwest President Dean L. Hubbard, (in red tie), shakes hands with CMC Chief Executive Officer
Raymond Riek after both men signed a memorandum of understanding declaring CMC's intent to
become the first tenant of Northwest's Center of Excellence, shown at right.

Northwest Missouri State University today signed a memorandum of understanding with Carbolytic Materials Co., LLC (CMC), stating that the Missouri-based firm is to become the first tenant at the University’s Center of Excellence.

CMC, which manufactures a substance known as ApexCM™ from shredded tires, enters into a cooperative technology research and development operation that will be housed at the center.

ApexCM™ is an alternative to several industrial grades of carbon black, a tinting and reinforcing agent used to make rubber and plastics, currently produced through the incomplete combustion of oil and natural gas. Extracting ApexCM™ from shredded tires replaces these petroleum-based materials for hundreds of rubber products such as hoses, belts, wipers, gaskets and roofing materials, and for colorants in plastic articles such as pipe and films.

Located on the Northwest campus, the Center of Excellence is designed to comprise a high-technology business incubator along with the University's Graduate Applied Research Center. CMC will utilize the incubator as a headquarters for its R&D efforts, while the research center will support academic programs that emphasize related science and technology.

"CMC's decision to partner with Northwest Missouri State University represents a significant step forward in making the northwest Missouri region and the University a center for a broad range of technologies that will ultimately sustain the environment and improve our quality of life," said Northwest President Dean L. Hubbard.

"We were able to attract CMC because of the unique opportunities the Center of Excellence creates for synergy between the private sector and academic programs that conduct vital research while training graduates to assume leadership roles in the high-tech workplace."

CMC recovers materials from used rubber products while making significant, positive environmental reductions in both solid waste and air emissions. Their process catalytically "cracks" the polymeric materials in rubber back to oil and gas and recovers the remaining solid materials (principally the original carbon black materials) in a manner that retains their reactivity and usefulness in rubber products (ApexCM™).

The consequence of this process is to return all materials -- oil, gas and reinforcing carbon -- to their original state, thus achieving the ultimate goal of recycling end-of-life rubber products. As an example, for each scrap tire processed, more than a gallon of oil, which has properties similar to diesel fuel oil, is recovered.

Producing and recycling 1,000 pounds of ApexCM™ creates substantial environmental benefits by consuming 190 scrap tires, saving 380 gallons of oil and, most importantly, avoiding the emission of 1,930 pounds of CO_2.

As a result of this research and development agreement, Northwest is obligated to complete interior construction of the incubator, including the purchase and installation of equipment specified by CMC, which will lease the space in the Center of Excellence from the University.

The MOU also states that appropriate faculty and students will dedicate the time "reasonably necessary" to perform targeted research and development jointly agreed to by both CMC and Northwest. This research will provide CMC with the opportunity to explore the full potential of this unique technology while allowing continued growth of the University's technical expertise in both chemistry and environmental responsibility.

For more information, please contact:

Anthony Brown,
News Bureau Manager
E-Mail: abrown@nwmissouri.edu
Phone (660) 562-1704
Fax (660) 562-1900

Northwest Missouri State University
219 Administration Building,
800 University Drive
Maryville, MO 64468

Return to Previous Page