Scrap Tires Pyrolysis: Product Yields, Properties and Chemical Compositions of Pyrolytic Oil

Abstract

This investigation involves an experimental study on the pyrolysis of scrap tires under different operating conditions such as feedstock size and pyrolysis temperature by highlighting the properties of the whole liquid products generated during each thermal degradation process. The complete conversion temperature for the pyrolysis of used tires was close to 500‒550°C. The characteristics of liquid fraction were determined by elemental analysis, chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques and distillation data. All the obtained atomic ratios are around 1,4 which is significant that such pyrolytic liquids are a mixture of aliphatic and aromatic compounds derived from polymeric materials. Analysis of the pyrolytic oil (pyro-oil) by chromatographic analysis showed that it was a complex mixture of organic compounds C₅‒C₂₆, aromatics and a large proportion of light hydrocarbons that can be used as liquid fuels. Furthermore, the comparison distillation data indicates that more than 40% of such pyrolytic oil fraction with the boiling point range between 180‒360°C is specified for diesel. It is noted that the viscosity decreases obviously from 4.87 to 1.79 with the increase in temperature.