Production of Liquid Fuels by Vacuum Pyrolysis of Used Tires

Pretell V.; Astorayme M.; Pilco A.; Ramos W. · Proceedings of the LACCEI international Multi-conference for Engineering, Education and Technology (2021) · DOI: 10.18687/laccei2021.1.1.70

Resumen

End-of-life tires (ELTs) are those tires that have expired because of exceeding their useful life, in Peru due to transport and mining activities in 2016 it was estimated that there were around one million seven hundred fifty thousand ELTs that represent 45,000 tons of waste. ELTs are waste that affects the environment and could be recycled as energy products. An alternative to recycling is the thermochemical process called pyrolysis. The performance and quality of the liquid fuels obtained by carrying out the vacuum pyrolysis of the ELTs was investigated, the effect of the vacuum pressure, temperature, and particle size on the yields of the liquid fractions was evaluated. The experiments were carried out on a laboratory and pilot plant scale. On a laboratory scale, it was obtained that the conditions that maximized the yield of liquid products were a pressure of 30.52 kPa abs., a temperature of 550 °C and a particle size of 25x25 mm. Under these conditions, a yield of liquid products of 54.32%, solid 39.87% and gases 5.81% was obtained. The liquid product has the characteristics of a Talara-type crude oil and can be used as a refinery load or can be used as an industrial fuel. The solid product is a carbonous product with low moisture content, its superior calorific power was 23.49 MJ/kg which classifies it as subbituminous carbon type B according to ASTM D388, is easy to grind and could be used as industrial fuel or precursor of activated carbon or smoke black. At the pilot plant level, a yield of liquid products of 35.88%, solids 42.42% and gases 21.70% were obtained.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería