Pyrolysers configurations effects on scrap waste tires pyrolysis products

Abstract

This paper presents End of Life Tires (ELT) pyrolysis results in two batch reactors with different configurations. The first setup is constituted of a pyrolyser with 17 cm of diameter and 17 cm of cylindrical height. An external electrical heater was used for heating the circumferential walls and the bottom of the pyrolyser. It can reach 400 Watts. The mass used was equals to 100 g. The second setup is bigger than the first one. It consists of a cylindrical fixed-bed reactor made of stainless steel with an internal diameter of 160 cm and a height of 250 cm. The reactor is placed in an enclosure heated by an electric furnace. The reactor heating power is controllable and may reach 5 kilowatts. It allows only the heating of the pyrolyser circumferential walls. We used 300 g. The heating rate was fixed to 10 °C/min and the Nitrogen N2 flow rate to QN2 equals to 40 ml/min. The Thermo-Gravimetric analysis TGA shows that the maximal degradation temperature is approximately equals to 400 °C and the volatile yield (gases and liquid) is 60.35 wt.%. It is found that the End of Life Tires pyrolysis produce 30.53 wt.% of Tire Derivative Oil (TDO) using setup 1 and 34.37 wt.% using setup 2. The tire-derived oils properties i.e. the density, the viscosity and the higher calorific value HCV are measured and compared to other commercial oils.