Pyrolysis of used automobile tires and residual char utilization

In the present study the rubber portion of used car tires was transformed by atmospheric pyrolysis into oil, gas and char. The experiments have been performed in a captive sample reactor at atmospheric pressure, under helium atmosphere. The effect of temperature on the products yield was investigated. In a second step, alternative uses of pyrolysis char such as combustion, gasification and active carbons preparation were examined, in order to produce fuels and high added value materials. First, pyrolysis char was burned and its reactivity was measured in function with pyrolysis temperature. Second, char was gasified with Steam and CO2 to produce fuel gases, in a tubular stainless steel reactor. It was also activated to produce high added value materials. It was shown that tire chars present higher reactivity with steam than with CO2 and also active carbons produced from tire chars possess surface areas, comparable with those of commercially available active carbons. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.