Changes in Components of Tyre-derived Oil After Sulphur and Heteroatom Removal Using Three Acids

Abstract

Tyre-derived oil consists of many types of hydrocarbons such as aromatic hydrocarbons and sulphur compounds. Aromatic hydrocarbons can generate gum in the engine, which results in a lower efficiency of the engine and causes black smoke. Moreover, sulphur compounds can also cause air pollution. Conventionally, acid treatment has been adopted by small companies that aimed at reducing aromatics, but it also gives undesired compounds in the tyre-derived oil. It has been reported that sulphuric acid can remove impurity and sulphur compounds in waste lube oil. However, it is suspicious that sulphuric acid used in the acid treatment can also form heteroatom-containing hydrocarbon molecules, such as S compounds, in the oil. So can other acids. In this work, sulphuric acid, nitric acid, and hydrochloric acid were used as chemicals in acid treatment in order to investigate the changes in components in tyre-derived pyrolysis oil. The products were analyzed by using SIMDIST-GC, GC×GC-TOF/MS, and S analyzer. The results showed that the volume of tyre-derived oils decreased about 50 wt.% together with 50 % sludge formation when sulphuric and nitric acids were used. For hydrochloric acid, the volume of tyre-derived oil decreased about 10 wt.%. The tyre-derived oil contained 5% gasoline, 25 % kerosene, 35 % gas oil, LVGO 8 % and HVGO 27 %. The results from GC×GC-TOF/MS were used to explain the changes in oil components before and after treatments.